UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
AT  LOS  ANGELES 


HARM  JAN   HUIDEKOPER 


Harm  Jan  Huidekoper 


HAEM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 


BY 

NINA  MOORE  TIFFANY 

AND 

FRANCIS  TIFFANY 


CAMBRIDGE 

primes  at  tljc  Ui&rrstDr  press 

1904 


COPYRIGHT    1904   BY   K.   G.   HUIDEKOPKR 


PREFACE 

THE  sources  of  this  memoir  are  mainly  family  letters 
and  a  brief  autobiography,  supplemented  by  the  files  of 
the  "  Essayist "  and  the  "  Western  Messenger."  Much, 
too,  has  been  gleaned  from  oral  tradition  concerning  a 
man  who  is  still  a  vital  influence  in  the  community  in 
which  he  was  revered  and  loved. 

Fortunately,  the  portrayal  of  character  attempted  has 
been  aided  by  the  recollections  of  Mr.  Huidekoper's 
daughter,  Miss  Elizabeth  G.  Huidekoper,  who  was  as- 
sisted in  gathering  together  the  material  for  the  work 
by  her  nieces  and  nephews. 

The  chapter  upon  the  Holland  Land  Company  has 
been  in  great  part  written  by  Mr.  Francis  B.  Tiffany, 
who  has  shared,  as  well,  in  the  preparation  of  the  book 

as  a  whole. 

N.  M.  T. 
F.  T. 

October,  1904. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  FAOB 

I.  THE  HOLLANDER 1 

II.  IN  THE  PENNSYLVANIA  INTERIOR 56 

III.  THE  HOLLAND  LAND  COMPANY 95 

IV.  REBECCA  COLHOON  .        .        .        .    '    .        .        .        .  132 
V.  THE  AMERICAN 158 

VI.  THE  UNITARIAN 197 

VII.  WITH  THE  YOUNG  HOUSEHOLD  AT  POMONA      .        .        .  245 

VIII.  CONCERNING  THE  "ULTRA  SPIRIT  OF  THE  TIMES"      .  278 

IX.  INDIAN  SUMMER 298 

X.  THE  MEADVILLE  THEOLOGICAL  SCHOOL.        .        .        .  313 

XI.  THE  LIVING  MEMORY 327 

APPENDIX. 

I.  THE  HOLLAND  LAND  COMPANY 337 

II.  HUIDEKOPER  GENEALOGY 361 

INDEX  369 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

FAQK 

HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER Frontispiece 

MAP  OF  HOLLAND 4 

JAN  ANNES  HUIDEKOPER 6 

PIETER  OLDAANS,  OLDAENS,  OR  OUDAAN 8 

CHURCH  AT  VRIES,  IN  PROVINCE  OF  DRENTHE,  NETHERLANDS, 

CONTAINING  TOMBS  OF  WOLTHER8  FAMILY         ...  18 

PIETER  HUIDEKOPER .        .88 

HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER % 

REBECCA  COLHOON  HUIDEKOPER 132 

REBECCA  COLHOON  HUIDEKOPER 138 

MAP  OF  MEADVILLE,  INDICATING  POMONA  AND  MAJOR  ALDEN'S 
HOUSE,  WHERE  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER  AND  REBECCA  COL- 
HOON WERE  MARRIED 144 

HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER'S  CARRIAGE,  ABOUT  1812.        .        .  154 
GUNS,  POWDER  HORN,  SHOT  POUCH,  HORSE  PISTOLS,  SADDLE 

BAGS,  VALISE 168 

JAN  HUIDEKOPER 172 

MEDAL  GIVEN  TO  PIETER  HUIDEKOPER,  BURGOMASTER  OF  AM- 
STERDAM    174 

SAAPKE  HUIDEKOPER  (HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER'S  HALF-SISTER)  176 

POMONA  (FRONT  VIEW) 246 

POMONA  (SIDE  VIEW) 250 

FIRST    INDEPENDENT    CONGREGATIONAL    CHURCH,   MEADVILLE, 

PENNSYLVANIA     .                 256 

HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 278 

CHILD'S  CARRIAGE  (MADE  FOR  ANNA  HUIDEKOPER)  .        .        .  300 

FREDERIC  HUIDEKOPER  (BORN  APRIL  7, 1817)       ....  314 

EDGAR  HUIDEKOPER  (BORN  MAY  30,  1812)        ....  316 

THEOLOGICAL  SCHOOL,  MEADVILLE,  PENNSYLVANIA      .        .        .  318 

ANNA  HUIDEKOPER  CLARKE  (BORN  NOVEMBER  5, 1814)    .        .  320 

ALFRED  HUIDEKOPER  (BORN  MARCH  21,  1810)       ....  322 

ELIZABETH  G.  HUIDEKOPER  (BORN  JANUARY  8,  1819)       .        .  324 


HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

CHAPTER  I 

THE    HOLLANDER 

THE  part  played  by  the  Dutch  in  the  making  of  this 
country  has  been  much  dwelt  upon  of  late,  and  with 
justice.  To  trace  it  along  the  general  lines  of  the  early 
history  of  New  York  and  New  Jersey,  or  to  pursue  the 
indications  of  Dutch  influence  discoverable  in  the  colo- 
nizers of  New  England,  is  to  linger,  certainly,  in  agree- 
able paths  of  inquiry.  But  the  most  active  appeal  to  the 
imagination  lies,  after  all,  in  the  individual  records  of  the 
men  who,  emigrating  from  the  Netherlands  to  America, 
left  a  definite  impress  upon  the  region  in  which  their 
lots  were  cast. 

A  pertinent  example  of  the  transplanting  from  Dutch 
soil  of  a  man  of  this  stamp  is  presented  in  the  life  of 
Harm  Jan  Huidekoper.  He  stood  in  western  Pennsyl- 
vania in  the  last  century  as  an  embodiment  of  the  Dutch 
sturdiness  of  nature,  Dutch  uprightness  and  ability  in 
financial  matters,  Dutch  cultivation  and  charm  in  social 
intercourse,  and,  above  all,  Dutch  tenacity  in  upholding 
freedom  of  thought. 

True  Hollander *  he  showed  himself  in  his  power  to- 
hold  his  own  in  matters  of  religious  belief,  and  in  this  he 
was  but  treading  in  the  footsteps  of  his  ancestors  ;  for 

1  Mr.  Huidekoper  always  spoke  of  himself  as  a  Hollander,  though  he 
was,  strictly  speaking,  from  Drenthe. 


2  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

the  family  name  Oldaans  is  to  be  found  on  the  roll  of  the 
proscribed  who  were  fugitives  from  the  ferocity  of  Alva ; 
while  the  Huidekopers,  Protestants  also,  were  among 
those  who  stood  outside  even  of  the  Reformed  Church. 
In  Friesland  the  Huidekopers  had  pursued  their  inde- 
pendent way  undisturbed  by  the  conflict  waged  in  the 
Southern  provinces,  and  iiad  chosen  for  their  wives  de- 
scendants of  the  refugees  who  under  stress  of  perse- 
cution had  taken  refuge  in  free  Friesland  or  in  Drenthe. 

Friesland  had  long  been  a  veritable  nursery  of  new 
sects.  Revolt  against  the  Roman  Catholic  church  was 
earliest  successful  here,  and  here  flourished  after  the  re- 
formation Baptists  and  Anabaptists  of  all  ranks  and 
degrees.  Here,  too,  in  Harlingen,  the  native  town  of 
Harm  Jan  Huidekoper's  father  and  of  his  fathers  before 
him,  the  gentle  Menno  Simons  taught  his  enlightened 
doctrines  of  peace  and  the  consecrated  life. 

Menno  was  educated  as  a  priest,  and  served  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church  until  one  terrible  day  when  his 
witnessing  some  of  the  atrocities  committed  in  its  name 
turned  him  forever  against  it.  Then  he  took  his  stand 
upon  a  position  resembling  that  of  Conrad  Grebel  of 
Zurich,  but  he  infused  into  Grebel's  doctrines  such  new 
life  that  his  followers  became  practically  a  distinct  sect 
among  the  Baptists,  and  were  known  as  Mennonites. 
The  teachings  of  Menno  forbade  the  bearing  of  arms  or 
the  taking  of  any  oath  of  office.  They  denounced  the 
union  of  church  and  state.  They  recommended  the  con- 
gregational form  of  church  government,  individual  study 
of  the  Scriptures,  and  a  liberal  interpretation  of  the 
Bible.  Though  persecuted  both  by  the  Roman  Catholics 
and  by  the  Protestants,  the  Mennonites  grew  in  numbers, 
until  in  1700  they  were  estimated  at  one  hundred  and 


THE  HOLLANDER  3 

sixty  thousand.  Gradually  the  persecutions  ceased,  and 
in  the  end  the  Mennonites  were  granted  certain  rights 
by  the  government. 

Meanwhile  their  internal  discipline  became  somewhat 
relaxed,  and  as  their  points  of  difference  from  others 
received  less  emphasis,  the  membership  fell  off,  until 
by  1800  their  ranks  in  Holland  were  reduced  to  thirty 
thousand  souls.1 

In  Harlingen  the  Huidekopers2  became  disciples  of 
Menno.  As  such  they  led  quiet  retired  lives,  cut  off 
from  public  offices  and  emoluments.3 

1  As  early  as  1623  a  Mennonite  congregation  was  gathered  at  German- 
town,  Penn.,  but  most  of  the  Mennonites  now  scattered  through  the 
United  States  have  come  to  us  after  a  sojourn  in  Russia,  whither  in  1783 
a  number  of  them  emigrated.    The  liberal  ideas  of  the  original  Dutch 
Mennonites  and  their  method  of    investigation   visibly  influenced  Mr. 
Huidekoper  in  his  search  for  a  consistent  form  of  belief. 

2  "  The  name  Huidekoper  bears  inherent  evidence  of  antiquity.    In 
early  times  the  chief  means  of  exchange  in  agricultural  Friesland  were 
cattle  and  hides.  Lands  were  bought  —  as  well  as  measured  —  with  hides. 
In  Holland  the  name  Huidekoper,  however  spelled,  signified  a  buyer  of 
hides,  and  the  arms  borne  by  the  founder  of  the  Huydecooper  family  of 
Maarseveen  show  three  ox-horns. 

"  The  earliest  mention  of  the  name  occurs  in  the  year  1500,  when  Jan 
van  Wieringen,  or  Jan  of  Wieringen,  an  island  of  Friesland  in  the  Zuyder 
Zee  near  Harlingen,  took  the  name  of  his  grandmother  Huydecooper, 
called  himself  Jan  Huydecooper  van  Wieringen,  and  founded  the  family  of 
Maarseveen  Huydecoopers,  distinguished  in  the  nobility  of  Holland.  The 
grandmother  Huydecooper  was  a  native  of  Friesland  or  its  islands,  where 
the  American  family  Huidekoper  originated."  —  Family  Manuscript. 

8  "  The  Huidekopers  were  of  purely  Frisian  origin.  They  were  settled 
for  at  least  several  generations  in  and  about  Harlingen,  and  spread 
thence  through  Friesland  and  Drenthe  and  to  Amsterdam.  Pieter  Huide- 
koper was  Burgomaster  of  Amsterdam  from  1842  to  1849,  and  others  of 
the  name  have  held  pnblic  office  in  the  town.  In  a  Dutch  biographical 
dictionary  they  are  designated  as  the  Huidekopers  of  Amsterdam  in 
contradistinction  to  the  Huydecopers  of  Maarseveen  and  of  Zeist. 

"  The  Huidekopers  of  Friesland  were  mostly,  if  not  all,  Mennonites,  a 
sect  resembling  the  Quakers,  and  as  such  refused  to  bear  arms  or  to  take 
oaths,  and  were  therefore  debarred  from  holding  public  office  or  bearing 


4  HARM  JAN   HUIDEKOPER 

Mr.  Huidekoper's  great  grandfather,  Anne  Jans, 
lived  in  Harlingen  in  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth 
century, —  a  time  when  the  republic  was  still  young. 

titles.  The  Maarseveen  Huydecopers  were  of  the  established  church,  and 
thus  were  open  to  both.  Whether  there  was  ever  any  connection  between 
the  Frisian  and  the  Maarseveen  families  is  quite  unknown.  It  is  possible, 
but  unproven,  and  if  it  ever  existed  must  have  been  in  very  remote  times, 
as  the  Huydecopers  of  Maarseveen  were  settled  in  South  Holland  as  early 
as  the  sixteenth  century,  and  possessed  estates  there.  Of  this  better  known 
and  titled  family  may  be  mentioned  Joban  Huydecoper,  who  in  the  six- 
teenth century  was  a  man  of  consideration  and  distinction,  with  the  title 
of  seigneur,  aud  possessed  of  a  large  fortune,  a  member  of  the  Council 
and  Burgomaster  of  Amsterdam.  His  son  Joan  received  in  1637  from 
Queen  Christina  of  Sweden,  daughter  of  Gustavus  Adolphus,  a  title  of 
nobility  and  was,  as  holder  of  this  title,  inscribed  in  the  book  of  Dutcb 
Nobles.  He  was  an  eminent  personage,  was  Burgomaster  of  Amsterdam 
and  later  Ambassador  to  the  Court  of  Charles  II  of  England.  In  1656, 
when  Prince  William  II  attempted  to  reduce  the  city  of  Amsterdam,  the 
Burgomaster  Huydecoper  put  the  place  in  a  state  of  defence,  and  so  great 
was  his  influence  that  the  Prince  withdrew  his  army  in  some  confusion 
and  humiliation.  An  old  engraving  represents  him  as  receiving  the  thanks 
of  the  Burghers  of  Amsterdam,  who  presented  him  with  a  jewelled  chalice, 
in  token  of  gratitude.  He  is  represented  in  the  great  painting  by  Go  vert 
Flinck,  in  the  museum  at  Amsterdam,  with  his  company  of  Arquebusiers 
celebrating  the  Peace  of  Munster. 

"  I  am  not  sure  whether  Balthazar  Huydecoper  was  a  son  or  grandson 
of  Joan.  Born  in  1695,  he  died  in  1775.  He  was  the  author  of  many 
poems  and  literary  works.  His  annotated  edition  of  the  chronicle  of 
Melius  Stoke,  giving  the  history  of  the  Dutcb  Count  Flavius  V  and  his 
successors,  is  highly  esteemed. 

"  Another  Huydecoper  I  may  mention  is  Theodore  Cornelis  Renier 
Huydecoper,  a  clergyman  and  preacher,  author  of  many  religious  treatises. 
He  was  especially  known  for  his  war  against  intemperance.  His  zeal 
made  him  many  enemies  among  those  addicted  to  the  'petit  verre,'  which 
was  often  called  a  '  Huydecoperus.' 

"  The  name  of  the  Frisian  family  was  in  former  times  sometimes  spelled 
Huydecoper  or  Huydekoper.  One  also  finds  the  Maarseveen  Hnydecopers 
at  times  using  the  i  and  the  k,  as  may  be  seen  in  the  index  to  Von  Vondel's 
poems,  where  it  is  written  Huidekoper,  while  in  certain  sonnets  in  the  body 
of  the  book  it  is  spelled  Huydecoper.  I  have  seen  both  spellings  in  old 
engravings,  and  a  book  plate  of  Joan  of  Maarseveen  dated  1661  bears  the 
name  spelled  Huidekoper."  —  Manuscript  notes. 


Longitude      5° 


from        6°     Greenwich 


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THE  HOLLANDER  6 

Little  is  known  of  him  save  that  he  married  Hinke 
Pieters  Dreijn.  The  son  of  Anne  Jans,  seemingly  an 
only  son,  who  was  named  Jan  Annes,  or  Jan  the  son  of 
Anne,  was  a  merchant  of  Harlingen,  and  a  "  bontreeder," 
that  is,  a  manufacturer  of  "  Friesch  bont,"  a  material  ex- 
tensively used  for  women's  aprons.  It  is  recorded  that 
the  young  Jan  Annes  made  a  journey  unusual  for  the 
stay-at-home  Frieslander  of  those  days.  In  the  winter 
months,  when  ice  made  solid  footing  on  the  Zuyder  Zee, 
he  ventured  across  the  frozen  waters,  with  his  father  or 
grandfather,  from  Harlingen  to  the  opposite  outlying 
lands,  which  are  supposed  to  have  formed  in  ancient 
times  the  entrance  of  the  river  Vlie.  An  interesting 
token  of  the  widespread  love  of  art,  and  especially  of 
portraiture,  among  the  Netherlanders  may  be  seen  in 
the  portrait  of  Jan  Annes  at  the  age  of  four  years,  which 
now  hangs  in  the  house  of  one  of  Mr.  Huidekoper's 
grandsons.1 

Jan  Annes  married  in  1725  Fokje  Pieters  Oldaans,2 

1  Mr.  Arthur  Clarke  Huidekoper  of  Me  ad  vi  lie. 

*  «'  Oldaans,  Oldaens,  or  Oudaans  —  the  name  is  spelled  in  various 
ways  —  comes  from  oud,  old,  and  aa,  waters  (old  waters),  perhaps  from 
the  family  seat  being  near  the  junction  of  the  Rhine  and  the  Yecht.  The 
family  was  one  of  some  standing  in  Friesland,  and  lived  chiefly  in  Har- 
lingen.  There  was  a  tradition  that  they  were  of  Flemish  extraction,  and, 
like  the  Rlaesses,  or  Claesses,  whose  descendants  also  intermarried  with 
the  Huidekopers,  left  Brabant  in  the  sixteenth  century  for  fear  of  persecu- 
tion, or  at  least  to  enjoy  the  full  freedom  of  their  religion.  They  were 
Baptists,  and  lived  only  as  private  citizens.  One  of  them,  however,  called 
Pieter  Pieters  Oldaens,  was  of  another  opinion,  and  held  to  the  Reformed 
Church  principles.  This  opened  to  him  the  way  to  public  office.  He  lived 
in  the  sixteenth  century  —  near  the  end  of  it  —  and  was  not  only  Burgo- 
master of  Harlingen,  but  was  one  of  the  nine  deputies  who,  in  the  time 
that  the  diet  was  not  actually  sitting,  governed  the  province.  His  arms 
may  be  seen  on  the  front  of  the  immense  Athenaeum  at  Franeker,  which 
building  he  would  seem,  conjointly  with  a  certain  nobleman,  to  have  re- 
stored or  endowed,  or  to  have  superintended  the  restoration  in  part.  The 


6  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

the  daughter  of  another  Harlingen  merchant,  Pieter 
Jans  Oldaans,  and  removed  to  Berlikum.1 

In  Berlikum,  probably,  was  born  to  Jan  Annes  an- 
other Anne,  the  father  of  Harm  Jan  Huidekoper.  Anne 
Huidekoper  married,  while  yet  in  Friesland,  Hylke 
Quader.  By  this  first  marriage  he  had  two  children, 
Saapke,  or  Sophia,2  and  Jan,  the  elder  brother  to  whom 
Harm  Jan  owed  his  education,  his  early  ideals,  and  his 
excellent  start  in  life.  Anne  Huidekoper's  first  wife 
died  January  21, 1773,  and  on  the  5th  of  April,  1775, 
he  married  Gesiena  Frederica  Wolthers,  daughter  of 
Harm  Jan  Wolthers,  schout  or  bailiff  of  Vries,  and 
Anna  Christina  Ketel,  his  wife. 

"  The  village  of  Vries,"  says  Mr.  Huidekoper's  grand- 
daughter, who  visited  it  in  recent  years,  "  is  to-day  a 
peaceful,  pretty  hamlet  of  hardly  more  than  twenty 
houses,  standing  amid  luxuriant  fields  of  grain  and 
groves  of  noble  trees.  The  village  green  is  shaded  by  a 
double  row  of  grand  old  sycamores  which  must  be  sev- 
eral centuries  old,  and  under  which  many  generations 
of  Wolthers  may  have  played.  On  one  side  of  the  green 
stands  the  church,  a  fine  old  structure,  some  parts  of 
which  date  from  the  twelfth  or  thirteenth  century.  The 
square  tower  in  front  is  of  considerable  height,  and 
dominates  the  country,  being  seen  from  a  great  distance 
across  the  level  expanse  of  moor  and  meadow  surround- 
ing Vries  for  many  miles.  The  choir  of  the  church  is 
higher  than  the  nave,  and  apparently  of  older  date. 

Oldaens,  like  the  Huidekopers,  had  a  branch  that  was  noble.  Their  arms 
were  a  red  cross  on  a  golden  ground."  —  Manuscript  notes. 

1  "  A  large  village  standing  on  fertile  soil  amid  fields  of  wheat  and 
potatoes  and  beautiful  gardens  of  fine  fruit  trees,  quite  flourishing  at  that 
time,  and  distant  about  two  hours'  drive  from  Harlingen."  —  Ibid. 

1  She  afterward  married  Albert  Steenbergen. 


JAN  ANNES   HUIDEKOPER 


THE  HOLLANDER  7 

Some  carved  stalls  in  the  choir  bear  the  date  of  1650. 
In  the  pavement  of  the  choir  are  the  tombs  of  the  Wol- 
thers  family."  1 

1  "  The  Woltbers  family,  living  for  several  generations  in  Vries,  have  been 
for  a  much  longer  period  established  at  Peize,  where  the  name  is  found 
as  early  as,  or  even  before  1500.  They  were  at  one  time  a  family  of  some 
distinction  in  the  Province  of  Drenthe,  as,  of  the  twenty-one  bailiffs  who 
were  placed  over  that  number  of  sub-districts,  eighteen  were  connected  in  a 
more  or  less  close  degree  with  it.  They  had  intermarried  in  several  gen- 
erations with  the  Ketels  (or  Keetels  as  it  is  often  spelled),  the  Willinges, 
and  with  the  Ten  Borsch  or  Ten  Serges  family,  and  held  office  and  pro- 
perty in  Peize,  Eelde,  Buune,  and  Nijeveen.  Harm  Jan  Wolthers  was 
Sellout  or  Bailiff  of  Vries,  as,  I  believe,  his  father  was  before  and  his  eld- 
est son  Lucar  (Lucas  ?)  was  after  him.  The  office  of  Schulte  or  Schout 
combined  the  offices  and  duties  of  Justice  of  the  Peace  with  those  of 
sheriff  and  register  and  recorder.  The  office  was  generally  held  for 
life.  Parchment  deeds  in  the  handwriting  and  with  the  seal  attached  of 
Harm  Jan  Wolthers  and  also  of  P.  Ketel,  Schout  of  Peize  and  Eelde,  are 
in  the  possession  of  Mrs.  Cortazzo." 

"  The  church  and  churchyard  of  Vries  occupy  one  side  of  the  village 
green  ;  on  the  other  are  a  few  brick  cottages  and  a  larger  and  finer 
residence  in  brick  with  well  laid  out  garden  and  fine  shade-trees,  now 
occupied  by  the  pastor  of  the  church.  At  the  end  of  the  green,  near  the 
church  and  school-house,  is  the  village  inn,  with  its  swinging  sign  and 
benches  and  tables  under  the  old  sycamore  tree.  A  few  rods  down  the 
street  at  the  side  of  the  church  stands  the  old  Wolthers  house,  now 
pointed  out  as  the  '  Haunted  House,'  though  for  what  reason  I  did  not 
learn,  save  that  the  cellars  or  vaulted  basements  which  appear  to  be  of  great 
antiquity  were  by  village  tradition  supposed  to  be  haunted.  The  house 
stands  under  magnificent  old  sycamores,  is  of  brick,  with  two  stories  in 
the  middle  and  wings  of  one  story.  It  stands  back  from  the  street,  a  brick 
pavement  leading  to  the  front  door.  A  stone  near  the  front  door  bears  the 
date  of  1730,  but  a  part  of  the  house  is  of  a  very  much  older  period,  and 
I  should  judge  might  date  back  to  1600.  This  part,  in  which  is  an  im- 
mense fire-place  and  chimney,  set  with  pictured  tiles,  is  not  now  used. 
Anne  Willem  Huidekoper  speaks  of  the  house  as  being,  even  in  1840  or 
earlier,  '  shorn  of  its  former  splendor.'  It  was  then,  as  it  is  now,  occupied 
by  a  farmer,  who  lives  in  the  village  and  goes  out  to  his  meadows  beyond 
the  village  limits.  Possibly  one  part  of  the  house  may  have  been  taken 
down  long  ago.  Certainly  at  present  it  bears  no  marks  of  any  splendor. 
The  gardens  or  grounds  behind  the  house  are  now  neglected  and  uncared 
for,  but  would  seem  at  one  time  to  have  been  extensive  and  well  laid  out, 
as  there  are  traces  of  alleys  of  trees  and  possibly  fish-ponds.  The  garden 


8  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

It  was  probably  in  the  year  1765  that  Anne  Huide- 
koper  removed  from  Berlikum,  in  Friesland,  to  the 
Hoogeveen,  in  the  Province  of  Drenthe.  Thither,  after 
his  marriage  in  1775,  he  took  his  second  wife,  and  there, 
in  a  house  called  Den  Klunderenberg  and  still  to  be 
seen  on  the  Schut  Canal,  their  children,  Harm  Jan, 
Pieter  Ketel,  and  Henderina  Caterina,  were  born. 

The  little  town  of  Hoogeveen,  or  the  Hoogeveen,  as 
it  is  more  commonly  called,  which  was  founded  in  1626 
by  Baron  van  Echten  (Seigneur  or  Lord  of  Echten  and 
of  the  Hoogeveen),  was  situated  near  an  extensive  peat- 
bog of  about  five  thousand  hectares,  and  contained  in 
the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  century  nine  hun- 
dred houses  and  forty-five  hundred  inhabitants.  A 
main  canal  —  the  Canal  of  the  Hoogeveen  —  connected 
it  with  Meppel,  and  lateral  canals  drained  the  coun- 
try and  furnished  means  of  communication  with  other 
points. 

But  a  description  of  Drenthe  and  of  Mr.  Huidekoper's 
boyhood,  as  well  as  of  the  unsettled  state  of  Holland 
which  led  to  his  leaving  his  old  home  for  America,  may 
be  given  in  his  own  words,  for  at  the  request  of  his  sons 
and  daughters  he  prepared  in  1839  a  brief  autobiogra- 
phy, which  will  run  as  a  connecting  thread  through  this 
and  the  ensuing  chapters.  It  begins  as  follows :  — 

slopes  to  a  grove  of  willows  where,  I  imagined,  a  little  stream  might  ran, 
but  I  had  not  time  to  verify  it.  The  house  now  contains,  below,  two  large 
square  rooms,  one  on  either  side  of  the  hall,  with  enormous  fire-places  and 
stone  caps  or  canopies  coming  down  over  the  chimney.  At  the  back  of 
one  fire-place  is  a  fine  iron  plate  with  a  scriptural  or  other  subject  in  re- 
lief upon  it.  Two  finely  carved  presses  in  solid  wood  inlaid  with  brass 
stood  in  one  room,  from  one  of  which  I  obtained  a  good  carving  of  a  coat 
of  arms.  The  present  owner  was  not  sure  whence  these  presses  had  come, 
but  thought  one  had  been  in  the  house  when  his  family  purchased  it."  — 
Manuscript  notes. 


PIETEK    OLDAENS 


THE  HOLLANDER  9 

I  was  born  on  the  3rd  April,  1776,  at  Hogeveen,  a 
large  village  in  the  district  (Landschap)  of  Drenthe, 
forming  part  of  what  was  then  denominated  the  seven 
United  Provinces ;  now,  the  Kingdom  of  the  Nether- 
lands. Drenthe  is  a  poor,  heathy  district,  bounded  on 
the  south  by  the  Province  of  Over  Yssel ;  on  the  north 
by  the  Province  of  Groningen  ;  on  the  west  by  the  Pro- 
vince of  Vriesland  or  Friesland,  and  on  the  East  by  Ger- 
many. It  was  associated  with  the  seven  united  provinces, 
and  had  a  district  government  of  its  own,  but  was  not 
represented  in  the  General  Assembly  of  the  States  or 
Provinces.  Its  share  in  the  general  expenses  of  the  Gov- 
ernment of  the  Union  was  assessed  at  one  per  cent. 

My  Father  was  Anne  Huidekoper,  and  my  Mother 
Gesiena  Frederica  Wolters.  The  former  was  born  in 
Friesland,  of  a  Frisian  family,  and  removed  to  Hogeveen 
after  he  had  attained  the  meridian  of  life,  but  at  what 
precise  time  I  know  not.  I  think  it  must  have  been  be- 
tween the  years  1765  and  1773.  Of  my  paternal  ances- 
ters  I  know  little  or  nothing,  having  never  made  any 
particular  inquiry  about  them.  From  what  I  recollect 
hearing  from  my  Father,  I  infer  that  they  were  decent 
Burghers  who  Hved  reputably  by  the  pursuit  of  some 
profession  or  calling.  My  Grandfather  Jan  Huidekoper 
married  a  Miss  Oldaan  or  Oldaen  (I  am  not  certain  how 
the  name  is  spelled).  If  I  mistake  not,  the  coat  of  arms 
now  used  by  the  Huidekopers  was  derived  from  the 
Oldaan  family.1  Your  cousin  Albert  informed  me  some 

i  "  According  to  your  request,"  Mr.  Huidekoper  wrote  to  his  son  Fred- 
eric, "  I  shall  seal  this  letter  with  the  two  seals  I  received  from  Holland. 
The  one  with  the  sword  and  the  three  crossbows  is  the  one  used  by  the 
Huidekopers.  It  was  originally  the  seal  of  the  Oldaans,  the  family  name 
of  my  paternal  grandmother.  The  colors  (according  to  Anne  Wilhem's 
description)  are  as  follows  :  The  first  part  of  the  shield,  on  which  is  the 
sword  with  the  golden  hilt,  is  to  be  painted  blue.  The  other  side  is  white, 
the  three  crossbows  with  arrows  on  them  retaining  their  natural  colours, 
the  bow  steel,  the  stock  of  wood,  and  the  spring  steel.  The  crown  I  sus- 
pect to  be  a  gratuitous  addition  of  the  artist." 


10  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

years  ago  that  this  coat  of  arms  was  found  on  one  of  the 
escutcheons  hung  up  in  one  of  the  churches  either  in 
the  province  of  Groningen  or  East  Friesland,  and  that 
the  family  descended  from  a  Jurist  who,  being  a  pro- 
testant,  fled  in  the  sixteenth  century  from  Flanders  or 
Brabant  to  escape  the  religious  persecutions  of  that  day, 
and  established  himself  in  Friesland.  My  paternal  an- 
cesters,  so  far  as  I  know,  all  belonged  to  the  Menonist 
Society,  a  sect  resembling  the  Quakers  in  several 
respects. 

My  Grandfather  Jan  Huidekoper  had,  if  I  recollect 
right,  seven  children,  namely  two  Sons  Anne  (my  Father) 
and  Pieter ;  and  five  daughters,  one  of  whom  was  mar- 
ried to  Albert  Scheltinga ;  a  second  married  to  a  Mr. 
Lamsma;  a  third  married  to  a  Mr.  Fontein,  and  two  who 
lived  and  died  single. 

My  Uncle  Pieter  (who  lived  at  Harlingen,  a  seaport 
in  Friesland,  and  the  place  of  residence  of  my  paternal 
ancesters)  had  five  children,  namely  three  sons  and  two 
daughters.  Of  the  sons,  the  two  eldest  named  Folkert 
and  Gerlof  died  unmarried.  The  third,  Jan,  now  sur- 
vives, and  has  a  family.  One  of  his  daughters  is  mar- 
ried to  your  cousin  John,  who  was  formerly  here.1  Of 
the  two  daughters  of  Pieter  Huidekoper,  Anne,  the 
youngest,  was  married  and  left  a  family  at  her  death.  I 
do  not  recollect  the  name  of  her  husband. 

My  Aunt  Scheltinga  died  without  leaving  issue. 

My  Aunt  Lamsma  had  three  children  a  son  and  two 
daughters.  The  son  and  one  of  the  daughters  were  never 
married.  The  other  daughter  was  first  married  to  a  phy- 
sician of  the  name  of  Meurs,  and  after  his  death  to  a 
person  whose  name  I  do  not  recollect.  I  think  she  had 
children. 

My  Aunt  Fontein  had  at  least  one  son,  who  was  called 
Peter,  and  who  had  a  family ;  but  where  they  live  I 
know  not.  The  Mr.  Fontein  which  Frederic  saw  2  is  I 

1  Son  of  Jan  Huidekoper  of  Amsterdam. 
1  His  son  Frederic  visited  Holland  in  1839. 


THE  HOLLANDER  11 

suspect  of  another  branch  with  whom  we  are  more  dis- 
tantly connected. 

The  other  two  sisters  of  my  Father  were  never  mar- 
ried. Their  names  were  Elizabeth  and  Hincke.  Of  what 
name  this  last  is  an  abbreviation  I  do  not  now  recollect. 

My  Mother  was  born  at  Vries,  a  small  village  in 
Drenthe  situated  a  few  miles  south  of  the  city  of  Gro- 
ningen.  She  belonged  to  one  of  those  old  decayed  fam- 
ilies, so  common  in  many  parts  of  Europe,  who  occupy 
a  kind  of  middle  rank  between  the  nobility  and  the  mass 
of  the  community,  and  which  in  England  are  designated 
by  the  name  of  Gentry.  Of  my  maternal  ancesters  I 
know  very  little.  I  might  have  obtained  much  informa- 
tion in  regard  to  them  from  my  Mother  who  was  well 
informed  on  this  subject,  but  this  was  a  matter  in  which 
I  felt  little  interest,  and  I  left  Europe  while  young.  I 
merely  know  that  the  family  must  have  resided  long  in 
Drenthe,  and  have  been  of  some  standing,  as  of  the 
twenty  one  Bailiffs  who  were  placed  over  that  number 
of  subdistricts  in  which  Drenthe  was  divided,  eighteen 
were  connected  in  a  more  or  less  distant  degree  with  it. 

My  Grandfather,  Harm  Jan  Wolters  (after  whom  I 
was  named)  was  Sellout  or  Bailiff  of  Vries,  as,  I  believe, 
his  father  had  been  before  him  and  as  his  eldest  son 
was  after  him.  We  have  no  office  in  this  country  pre- 
cisely analogous  to  this.  It  combined  the  duties  origi- 
nally belonging  to  the  office  of  Justice  of  the  peace, 
with  those  belonging  to  the  Sheriff,  the  register  and  the 
recorder.  This  office  was  generally  held  for  life. 

My  Grandmother's  family  name  was  Ketel.  Some  of 
her  ancestors  had  devoted  themselves  to  the  military  ser- 
vice of  the  country,  and,  if  I  recollect  right,  her  father 
had  attained  the  rank  of  Major  General  in  the  Dutch 
service.  When  a  boy  I  met  among  the  papers  of  an  old 
maternal  uncle  of  my  Mother's,  with  some  military  re- 
ports or  memoranda,  made  about  the  beginning  of  the 
last  century,  during  the  wars  then  carried  on  by  the 
dutch  against  Louis  XIV  of  France.  If  I  had  them 


12  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

now,  their  contents  might,  even  at  this  day,  be  inter- 
esting. 

My  Grandfather  had  five  children  namely  two  sons 
and  three  daughters.  Of  the  sons,  the  youngest  never 
was  married.  The  eldest  married  late  in  life,  but  had 
no  children,  and,  at  his  death,  the  family  name  of  Wol- 
ters  became  extinct,  at  least  so  far  as  I  know.  Of  the 
three  daughters  one  died  unmarried.  A  second  was 
married  to  a  Mr.  Groenenberg  living  in  Groningen, 
and  had  children,  but  how  many  I  know  not.  I  merely 
heard  that  one  of  her  sons  went  to  Surinam  and  settled 
there.  The  third  daughter  of  my  Grandfather  was  my 
Mother. 

My  Father  was  twice  married.  By  his  first  wife, 
whom  he  married  while  he  yet  resided  in  Friesland, 
but  who  died  after  he  had  removed  to  Hogeveen,  he 
had  two  children,  a  daughter  called  Saapke  and  a  son 
called  Jan.  In  the  year  1775  he  was  married  to  my 
Mother,  and  by  her  he  had  three  children,  myself,  who 
was  the  oldest,  my  sister  Henderina  Catherina,  and  my 
brother  Pierre  Ketel.1  Of  these  I  alone  survive.  My 
sister  Saapke  was  married  to  Albert  Steenbergen,  a  law- 
yer, afterwards  Schout  or  Bailiff  at  Hogeveen.  She  sur- 
vived her  husband  for  some  years,  and  left  at  her  death 
two  children,  a  son  named  Cornelius  and  a  daughter. 
This  daughter,  if  I  recollect  right,  was  married  to  a 
Gentleman  of  the  name  of  Meyer,  but  died  young  with- 
out leaving  issue.  Cornelius  Steenbergen  is  now  living. 
He  has  been  married  to  a  Miss  Prins  and  has  by  her 
three  children,  a  son  and  two  daughters.  The  son  is  a 
cripple.  He  resides  at  present  at  Haerlem  in  Holland, 
and  is  a  painter  by  profession.  He  is  said  to  possess 
talents,  and  an  amiable  disposition. 

My  brother  John  was  twice  married  —  the  first  time 
to  a  Miss  Gertrude  Stinstra,  and  the  second  time  to 
Miss  Jacoba  de  Bie.  By  his  last  wife,  who  survived 

1  Mr.  Huidekoper  was  not  always  consistent  in  his  spelling  of  proper 
names. 


THE  HOLLANDER  13 

him,  he  had  no  issue ;  but  by  his  first  wife,  (besides  a 
son  named  after  me  who  died  young)  he  had  six  chil- 
dren all  of  whom  now  survive,  namely  four  sons,  viz 
Anne  Wilhem,  Pieter,  Jan  and  Albert ;  and  two  daugh- 
ters, viz  Annette  and  Gertrude.  Of  my  Brother's  chil- 
dren, Pieter  has  married  a  Miss  Van  Eeghen  (sister  of 
Jan  &  Pieter  Van  Eeghen).  His  wife  is  dead,  but  she 
has  left  him  two  daughters.  Annette  is  married  to  Pie- 
ter Van  Eeghen,  by  whom  she  has  a  family ;  and  John 
is  married  to  a  daughter  of  my  Cousin  Jan  Huidekoper 
of  Harlingen  in  Friesland ;  he  now  lives  at  Midlum 
near  Harlingen,  is  a  farmer  and  has  a  family. 

My  sister  Henderina  Catherina,  and  my  brother  Pierre 
Ketel  both  died  unmarried,  the  former  at  Hoogeveen, 
the  latter  at  Meadville. 

As  I  mentioned  before,  I  was  born  on  the  3rd  April 
1776.  At  my  birth  my  constitution  was  so  feeble,  that 
but  little  hope  was  entertained  of  my  living,  and  this 
state  of  weakness  continued  during  my  early  years.  At 
one  time  the  family  actually  supposed  me  to  be  dead,  and 
were  about  laying  me  out,  when  symptoms  of  remain- 
ing animation  were  discovered ;  and  I  was  three  years 
old  before  I  was  able  to  walk.  From  that  time  on  how- 
ever my  health  began  to  improve.  I  was  suffered  to  be 
much  in  the  open  air,  and  to  take  as  much  exercise  as  I 
pleased,  and  this,  no  doubt,  was  useful  in  strengthening 
me,  and  in  developing  my  physical  powers,  and  before 
I  had  attained  my  tenth  year  my  health  had  become 
quite  firm.  It  is  true  that  I  did  not  then,  nor  after- 
wards, possess  as  great  a  degree  of  muscular  strength  as 
some  others,  but  in  uniform  good  health,  and  in  the 
power  to  endure  fatigue  or  the  inclemency  of  the  weather, 
few  excelled  me.  With  the  exception  of  a  slight  attack 
of  fever  which  I  had  when  I  was  about  eleven  years  old, 
I  have  no  recollection  of  having  been  seriously  indis- 
posed until  I  had  a  severe  attack  of  dyspepsia  in  my  fif- 
tieth year ;  and  since  I  recovered  from  that  my  health, 
though  somewhat  less  firm,  has  been  good,  for  one  at 


14  HARM  JAN   HUIDEKOPER 

my  time  of  life.  From  my  infancy  until  I  attained  the 
age  of  about  twenty  five  I  was  remarkably  lean,  and  my 
complexion  was  sallow,  so  that  I  was  often  asked  whether 
I  was  in  bad  health.  About  the  latter  period  I  began 
to  increase  in  flesh,  and  my  colour  assumed  a  more 
healthy  appearance. 

My  earlier  days  were  spent  like  those  of  most  chil- 
dren in  a  country  village,  my  time  being  divided  between 
play  and  going  to  School.  It  is  among  the  earliest  of 
my  recollections  that  I  went,  with  the  other  children  of 
my  age,  to  a  Dame  school,  when  from  a  hornbook,  sus- 
pended by  a  riband,  either  from  the  neck  or  from  a 
button  hole,  I  was  taught  my  letters.  What  further 
progress  I  made  at  this  school  in  the  black  art  I  do  not 
now  remember. 

From  the  dame  school  I  was  in  due  time  removed  to 
the  common  school  of  the  village.  As  at  that  time  the 
improvements,  since  introduced  in  the  common  school 
system  were  unknown,  this  was  but  a  poor  concern,  at 
which  nothing  was  pretended  to  be  taught  but  reading, 
writing  and  cyphering.  The  first  of  these  branches  was 
generally,  perhaps  necessarily,  much  neglected,  for, 
where  in  a  large  school,  every  scholar  had  to  read  singly 
to  the  Master,  but  a  very  short  space  of  time  could  be 
allotted  by  him  to  any  one.  As  to  grammars  of  the  dutch 
language,  they  were  never  used.  In  writing  and  cypher- 
ing the  instruction  was  somewhat  more  thorough,  and 
I  imbibed  in  that  school  that  fondness  for  arithmetical 
operations  which  has  adhered  to  me  ever  afterwards. 

I  have  called  this  school  a  common  school,  because 
it  was  open  to  all,  and  was  the  only  one  kept  in  the  Vil- 
lage. It  was  not  however  a  free  school.  Those  who 
went  to  it  had  to  pay  weekly  some  small  matter  for 
tuition,  the  precise  amount  of  which  I  do  not  now  recol- 
lect. I  merely  know  that  here  it  would  have  appeared 
to  be  a  mere  trifle,  within  the  means  of  every  one,  while 
there  it  was  considered  large  enough  to  prevent  many 
children  from  being  sent  to  school,  so  that  the  number 


THE  HOLLANDER  15 

of  scholars,  in  a  village  containing  about  six  thousand 
inhabitants,  did  not  amount  to  one  hundred,  perhaps  not 
to  seventy  five. 

The  fact  I  have  just  stated  is  not  calculated  to  make 
you  have  very  exalted  ideas  of  the  intellectual  situation 
of  my  birthplace  at  the  time  of  which  I  am  speaking. 
The  fact  is,  my  dear  children,  that  it  would  be  difficult 
for  you,  who  have  been  brought  up  in  a  community  in 
which  a  considerable  degree  of  intelligence  universally 
prevails,  and  where  even  persons  who  can  neither  read 
nor  write  become  intelligent  by  their  intercourse  with 
others,  to  form  any  adequate  conception  of  the  degree 
of  intellectual  darkness  which  then  rested  on  my  native 
province,  and  on  some  other  parts  of  Europe.  A  few 
facts  will  however  enable  you  to  form  some  idea  in  re- 
gard to  it. 

In  the  first  place  but  a  small  portion  of  the  commu- 
nity learned  to  read,  and  of  those  who  did,  very  few 
indeed  ever  read  any  other  books  than  the  bible  and  the 
Metrical  collection  of  the  Psalms  used  in  the  church. 
Books  there  were  none  except  a  few  belonging  to  some 
of  the  better  educated,  and  to  these  the  Mass  of  the  in- 
habitants had  no  access ;  and  as  to  Newspapers,  these  the 
commonality  never  saw.  At  Hoogeveen  there  were  per- 
haps two  or  three  Newspapers  taken  a  week  by  clubs, 
similar  to  our  book  clubs  here,  and,  among  the  members, 
the  papers  were  passed  from  hand  to  hand  by  rotation. 
But  these  papers  were  totally  dissimilar  to  the  news- 
papers of  this  country.  They  contained  no  essays,  dis- 
sertations or  discussions  on  interesting  subjects,  but  were 
filled  with  mere  abstracts  of  foreign  or  domestic  news, 
given  in  the  most  condensed  form.  A  few  periodical 
publications,  chiefly  political,  were  taken  by  the  same 
class  in  the  same  manner.  It  is  true  that  the  children 
of  the  Gentry  received  a  somewhat  better  education. 
These  were  generally  sent  from  home  to  some  boarding 
school,  or  to  some  country  Minister  to  be  qualified  for 
college ;  and  next  to  college  to  qualify  themselves  either 


16  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

for  the  Ministry,  the  bar  or  some  public  office.  These, 
of  course,  were  considerably  superior  to  the  mass  of  the 
community  in  intelligence ;  but  then  their  numbers  were 
comparatively  small,  and  what  was  worse,  they  formed 
among  themselves  an  exclusive  caste,  between  which 
and  the  laboring  classes  there  was  no  social  intercourse, 
so  that  the  latter  had  little  chance  of  being  improved 
by  the  superior  information  of  the  former. 

In  the  second  place  there  was  no  intercourse  between 
Drenthe  and  more  enlightened  parts  of  the  country,  so 
as  to  have  enabled  the  inhabitants  to  improve  themselves 
by  their  intercourse  with  others.  It  were  only  the  mem- 
bers of  the  more  favored  class  who  occasionally  visited 
the  distant  cities.  As  to  the  labouring  classes  these  lit- 
erally lived  and  died  at  home.  I  suspect  that  a  great 
majority  of  them  never  went  a  distance  of  twenty  miles 
from  their  place  of  residence,  and  the  few  strangers  they 
came  occasionally  in  contact  with,  were  mostly  inhabit- 
ants of  adjoining  villages,  men  as  little  enlightened  as 
themselves.  There  was,  it  is  true,  one  class  of  the  in- 
habitants of  Hoogeveen  who  strayed  somewhat  farther 
from  home  than  their  fellow  Citizens,  namely  the  Skip- 
pers engaged  in  the  transportation  of  turf,  and  their  as- 
sistants, but  even  these  had  not  such  an  intercourse  with 
the  world  as  was  calculated  to  increase  their  intelligence 
much,  except  so  far  as  related  to  their  particular  branch 
of  business.  In  one  word,  I  can  compare  the  intellect- 
ual situation  of  Drenthe,  and  of  many  other  parts  of 
Europe,  at  that  time,  to  nothing  better  than  to  those  Ger- 
man counties  of  Pennsylvania  into  which  the  english 
language  and  civilization  have  not  penetrated ;  with  this 
difference,  that  in  Europe  mankind  were  divided  into 
exclusive  Castes,  of  which  the  Gentry  Caste  had  some 
mental  cultivation ;  the  mechanical  caste  much  less  so, 
and  the  farming  and  labouring  caste  least  of  all. 

Such  was,  in  an  intellectual  point  of  view,  the  state 
of  society  in  which  I  was  placed  in  early  life,  and  my 
domestic  situation  was  not  more  favourable  to  the  early 


THE  HOLLANDER  17 

development  of  my  mental  powers.  My  Father's  educa- 
tion had  been  very  much  neglected.  His  mind  had  not 
been  improved  either  by  study,  by  reflection  or  by  his 
intercourse  with  the  world.  He  was  kind  to  me,  but 
could  not  impart  to  me  knowledge  which  he  did  not  pos- 
sess himself.  My  Mother's  mind  was  of  a  much  higher 
order;  and  she  had  made  good  use  of  the  few  means  for 
obtaining  knowledge  which  were  accessible  to  her,  but 
unfortunately  these  had  been  very  slender.  In  her  time 
female  education  was  in  general  much  neglected ;  and 
besides  this  she  was  born  and  educated  in  a  small  vil- 
lage, which  possessed  yet  fewer  means  of  instruction 
than  the  generality  of  larger  cities.  The  extent  of  her 
knowledge  was  therefore  very  limited,  but  the  little  she 
did  know  she  knew  well,  for  she  had  reflected  on  what 
she  did  hear  and  see,  and  her  reasoning  powers  were 
good.  To  this  was  united  an  excellent  heart  and  an  ami- 
able disposition.  I  was  the  object  of  her  fondest  affec- 
tion, perhaps  because  my  weakly  state  of  health  had 
caused  her  so  much  trouble  and  anxiety ;  and  I  owe  to 
her  a  deep  debt  of  gratitude.  If  she  could  not  do  much 
towards  the  development  of  my  mental  powers,  she  made 
more  than  amends  for  this  deficiency  by  cultivating  in 
me  the  affections  of  the  heart,  and  by  inculcating  in  me 
the  love  of  virtue. 

I  remained  in  the  paternal  family  until  I  had  attained 
the  age  of  ten  years,  and  I  was  then  sent  to  a  boarding 
school  at  Hasselt  in  the  Province  of  Overyssel,  to  pur- 
sue my  studies.  In  the  selection  of  this  school  economy, 
(which  my  Father's  situation  rendered  necessary)  and 
proximity  to  my  native  home,  were  more  consulted  than 
the  quality  of  the  school,  which,  though  it  had  somehow 
acquired  considerable  reputation,  was  really  a  wretched 
institution.  The  principal  was  a  good  but  uninformed 
man.  The  french  teacher  was  ignorant  and  worthless, 
and  the  usher  we  had  for  part  of  the  time,  was  a  good 
natured  illiterate  lad.  Neither  the  instruction  nor  the 
moral  conduct  of  the  scholars  was  properly  attended  to, 


18  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

and  the  whole  course  of  instruction  was  limited  to  writ- 
ing, arithmetic  and  the  french  language.  At  this  school 
I  remained  (with  the  intermission  of  nearly  a  year  which 
I  spent  at  home  or  in  visiting  my  relations)  until  I  had 
completed  my  seventeenth  year.  At  that  time  my  elder 
Brother  John  took  pity  on  me,  and  seeing  that  I  was 
merely  wasting  my  time  at  Hasselt,  and  knowing  that 
my  Father's  means  did  not  allow  him  to  do  any  thing 
more  for  me,  he  proposed  to  send  me,  at  his  expense,  to 
complete  my  education  at  Crefeld  in  Germany.  To  this 
act  of  fraternal  generosity  I  have  been  indebted  for 
much  of  my  success  in  after  life. 

In  order  properly  to  appreciate  this  conduct  of  my 
Brother's  you  must  know,  my  dear  children,  that  we 
were  only  half  brothers  ;  that  he  had  been  very  seldom 
at  home  for  several  years  past,  and  therefore  was  little 
acquainted  with  me ;  that  a  small  fortune,  which  came 
to  him  from  his  Mother,  had  already  been  considerably 
impaired  by  the  wants  of  my  Father ;  and  that  my 
Brother,  at  that  time,  was  himself  only  a  clerk  in  the 
counting  house  of  the  Messrs.  Hope,  and  had  little  else 
besides  his  salary.  His  conduct  to  me  was  a  generous 
and  noble  one,  and  I  shall  feel  grateful  to  him  for  it  so 
long  as  I  live. 

Before  I  left  Hasselt  I  was,  after  the  usual  course  of 
instruction,  admitted  as  a  regular  member  of  the  Dutch 
reformed  Church.  This  was,  at  that  time,  the  national 
church  in  Holland.  It  was  the  church  to  which  my 
Mother  belonged,  and  in  which  I  had  been  educated,  and 
was  the  only  church  which  existed  in  my  native  province. 
The  course  of  catechetical  instruction,  through  which  I 
went  previous  to  my  admission  to  church  membership, 
was  not  much  calculated  either  to  increase  my  know- 
ledge of  the  scriptures,  or  to  cultivate  in  me  a  religious 
spirit.  It  consisted  almost  exclusively  in  getting  the 
Heidelberg  catechism  by  heart,  and  in  learning  to  cite 
certain  texts  of  scriptures  in  support  of  the  dogmas  it 
contains. 


THE  HOLLANDER  19 

In  the  early  part  of  the  summer  of  1793  I  went  to 
Crefeld,  and  entered  the  Institute  at  that  place.  This 
is  a  name  given  in  Germany  to  a  kind  of  high  school  or 
academy,  in  which,  in  addition  to  all  the  branches  of  a 
thorough  common  education,  the  dead  and  living  lan- 
guages are  taught,  so  as  to  qualify  young  men  either  to 
enter  the  university,  the  counting  house  or  the  army, 
according  to  their  several  destinations.  The  Institute  at 
Crefeld  was,  at  the  time  I  entered  it,  an  excellent  one 
of  its  kind.  Professor  Shehl,  who  was  at  the  head  of  it, 
and  his  four  or  five  assistant  professors,  were  all  amiable 
and  well-informed  men,  who  knew  how  to  impart  their 
knowledge  to  others,  and  who  possessed  the  far  more 
difficult  art  of  managing  boys  to  an  admiration,  so  that 
some  seventy  or  eighty  young  men,  of  all  ages  and  lan- 
guages, Germans,  Hollanders,  Belgians  and  English, 
were  all  kept  in  the  most  perfect  order  simply  by  the 
moral  influence  which  these  teachers  had  acquired  over 
us.  What  contributed  probably  much  to  the  good  order  of 
this  school  was  that  we  were  well,  and,  I  may  say,  kindly 
treated.  Our  lodging  was  always  clean;  our  food  was 
good  of  its  kind,  well  cooked,  and  always  abundant ; 
and  we  were  always  spoken  to  and  treated  as  young 
Gentlemen,  and  rational  beings. 

Here  I  found  myself  all  at  once  translated,  as  it  were, 
to  an  entirely  new  world.  I  had  hitherto  only  come  in 
contact  with  persons  who  were  from  half  a  century  to  a 
century  behind  the  age,  and  I  now  found  myself  in  the 
society,  and  under  the  care,  of  Gentlemen  who,  by  their 
acquirements  and  their  modes  of  thinking,  belonged  to 
the  age  in  which  they  lived. 

My  new  situation  would  have  been  altogether  de- 
lightful had  it  not  been  for  a  couple  of  pretty  serious 
drawbacks.  The  first  of  these  was,  that  I  felt  humiliated 
to  see  that  many  of  my  fellow  scholars,  younger  than 
myself,  knew  more  than  I  did ;  and  the  second  was, 
that  I  found  myself  in  an  Institute,  where  all  the  instruc- 
tion was  given  in  German,  of  which  language  I  was  en- 


20  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

tirely  ignorant.  I  felt  however  that  these  were  difficulties 
which  could  be  overcome  by  dint  of  labour  and  appli- 
cation ;  and  I  set  myself  resolutely  to  work  to  overcome 
them.  Luckily  there  is  so  much  similarity  between  the 
Dutch  and  German  languages  (the  former  being  in  fact 
only  a  different  dialect  of  the  latter)  that  a  Hollander  can, 
in  a  very  short  time,  acquire  a  sufficient  knowledge  of  the 
German  to  understand  it,  and  even  to  speak  it ;  and  as 
I  heard  little  else  spoken  than  German,  and  could  avail 
myself  of  my  knowledge  of  the  french  language  to  ask 
explanations  of  any  term  which  I  did  not  comprehend, 
I  was  enabled,  in  a  very  short  time,  to  pursue  my  studies 
with  the  rest  of  the  scholars.  It  is  true,  that  in  order  to 
do  this,  I  had  to  resort  to  some  expedients.  Thus,  when 
a  mathematical  lesson  was  dictated,  I  took  it  down  in 
dutch  and,  if  translations  had  to  be  made  from  the 
french,  my  versions  were  in  my  mother  tongue.  Soon 
however  I  learned  to  speak  the  German  language,  and 
even  to  write  it  in  the  German  character;  and  by 
dint  of  application  and  perseverance  I  had  the  satisfac- 
tion of  finding  myself,  by  the  end  of  the  first  year, 
ranked  among  the  first  scholars  of  the  Institute. 

This  was  a  happy  period  of  my  life,  and  one  to  which 
I  have  always  looked  back  with  pleasure.  All  my  studies 
(with  the  exception  perhaps  of  the  mathematics  for 
which  I  had  then  not  much  taste)  were  pleasing  to  me. 
For  the  first  time  in  my  life  I  could  have  access  to  a 
large  and  well  chosen  library,  containing  all  the  best 
German  and  French  Authors.  I  felt  my  mind  gradu- 
ally expanding,  and  opening  itself  to  new  ideas ;  and  I 
enjoyed  the  friendship  and  esteem  of  my  teachers  and 
of  my  fellow  scholars. 

In  order  to  enable  you  to  form  a  more  correct  idea  of 
my  manner  of  living  at  Cref  eld,  I  will  enter  into  some  de- 
tails in  regard  to  it.  I  generally  rose  about  six  o'clock  in 
the  morning.  This,  during  the  winter,  was  much  earlier 
than  most  of  my  fellow  students  rose,  it  being  in  that 
latitude  hardly  day  before  eight  o'clock  in  winter  ;  but 


THE  HOLLANDER  21 

by  studying  in  the  morning  for  a  couple  of  hours  by 
candle  light,  I  had  the  means  of  preparing  myself  well 
for  the  lessons  of  the  day.  About  seven  o'clock  in  the 
summer  and  eight  in  the  winter,  we  had  morning 
prayers,  and  immediately  after  that  breakfast.  This  was 
not  a  social  meal  as  it  usually  is  in  this  country.  Every 
one  received  a  bowl  of  coffee  or  milk  and  a  small  wheaten 
loaf,  and  this  he  went  to  eat  when,  where  and  how  he 
pleased.  The  regular  hours  of  instruction  were  in  the 
morning  from  nine  to  twelve,  and  in  the  afternoon  from 
one  or  half  after  one  till  four  or  five.  Extra  studies, 
such  for  instance  as  the  study  of  the  English  language, 
were  generally  pursued  at  stated  hours  in  the  evening ; 
and  the  remaining  hours  of  the  evening,  and  the  inter- 
mediate hours  of  the  day,  were  devoted  to  preparatory 
studies,  translating,  &c.  Our  dinner  hour  was  about 
half  past  twelve.  Our  dinner  invariably  consisted  of  a 
good  substantial  beef  soup ;  boiled  beef,  and  a  variety  of 
vegetables.  To  this  was  added  half  a  tumbler  of  Rhe- 
nish wine  three  times  a  week.  This  mode  of  living  would 
appear  to  be  wanting  in  variety,  to  persons  in  this  coun- 
try, where  meat  is  considered  as  the  main  dish  at  din- 
ner. But,  on  the  continent  of  Europe,  vegetables  and 
not  meat,  were  considered  as  the  essential  part  of  the 
dinner,  and  these  admitted  of  so  much  variety,  both  as 
to  kind  and  mode  of  dressing,  that  this  mode  of  living 
never  appeared  to  tire  for  want  of  variety.  At  5  or 
6  o'clock  in  the  evening  we  had  again  a  bowl  of  coffee 
or  milk  and  a  wheaten  loaf  similar  to  what  we  had  at 
breakfast ;  and  at  half  after  nine  we  had  supper.  This 
consisted  generally  of  some  of  the  lighter  kinds  of 
meat,  such  as  veal,  mutton  &c.  and  of  different  kinds 
of  vegetables,  according  to  the  season  of  the  year.  After 
supper  came  the  evening  prayer,  and  immediately  after 
that  we  all  went  to  bed. 

But  all  our  hours  were  not  devoted  to  study.  Ex- 
ercise and  recreation  were  also  attended  to,  and  en- 
tered systematically  into  the  plan  of  our  education. 


22  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

Three  afternoons  in  the  week,  namely  those  of  Wednes- 
day, Saturday  and  Sunday  were  specially  appropriated 
to  exercise.  Then,  under  the  superintendence  of  one  of 
the  Professors,  who  for  that  week  had  the  inspection, 
we,  in  a  body,  sallied  out  of  town,  and  made  excursions 
of  greater  or  less  extent,  according  to  the  season  of  the 
year  or  the  length  of  the  days.  Sometimes  we  spent  the 
whole  afternoon  in  walking  to  visit  some  wood,  ruin  or 
distant  village.  At  other  times  we  visited  either  some 
farm  or  public  garden,  and  partook  of  some  simple  re- 
freshments ;  and  if  during  the  winter  the  weather  did 
not  admit  of  our  taking  our  accustomed  walks,  care  was 
taken  to  make  us  dance  for  half  an  hour  every  evening, 
and  in  these  dances  the  Professor's  wife  and  children 
regularly  joined.  On  Sunday  evening  in  winter,  we  all 
attended  the  Sunday  concert.  At  this,  besides  the  pro- 
fessed musicians,  a  number  of  the  principal  ladies  and 
gentlemen  of  the  place,  and  among  those  some  of  the 
Professors  of  the  Institute,  composed  the  orchestra,  or 
were  the  performers ;  and  here  we  were  sure  to  meet 
all  the  principal  inhabitants  of  the  city. 

As  I  was  now  about  eighteen,  and  had  acquired  the 
confidence  of  the  professors,  I  was  permitted  (whenever 
I  chose  to  do  so)  to  spend  the  afternoons,  set  apart  for 
exercise,  in  visiting  my  friends  in  and  near  town,  and 
of  this  permission  I  frequently  availed  myself.  Besides 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Van  der  Ploeg,  the  Mennonist  Minister,  a 
countryman  of  my  own,  with  whom  I  was  very  intimate, 
I  had  formed  a  number  of  other  acquaintances,  princi- 
pally among  the  young  ladies,  and  in  the  company  of 
the  latter  I  spent  many  agreeable  hours  in  conversation, 
Walking,  listening  to  music,  or  in  dancing  ;  for  dancing 
there  was  not,  as  here,  an  evening's  work,  but  only  a 
short  interlude  by  which  the  amusements  of  the  after- 
noon were  diversified. 

Before  leaving  Crefeld  it  may  not  be  amiss  to  inquire 
what  influence  my  residence  there  had  on  my  moral 
and  religious  character.  Every  week  there  was  a  lecture 


THE  HOLLANDER  23 

delivered  to  us  on  moral  science.  These  lectures  I  lis- 
tened to  with  intense  interest,  and  not  without  profit, 
so  that,  if  I  did  not  deceive  myself,  I  left  the  Institute 
better  than  when  I  entered  it.  In  regard  to  the  reli- 
gious sentiment,  my  improvements  were  perhaps  of  a  less 
decided  character.  Not  that  I  felt  indifferent  on  the 
subject  of  religion.  I  was  regular  in  my  attendance  at 
divine  service  every  Sunday  Morning.  I  had  entered 
myself  as  a  member  of  the  German  reformed  Church, 
(which  is  essentially  the  same  as  the  dutch  reformed 
church)  and  in  that  church  I  communed  ;  but  I  gener- 
ally worshiped  with  the  Mennonist  Society,  because  the 
services  there  were  in  the  low  dutch  language,  which 
at  least  in  the  beginning,  I  could  better  understand.  I 
also  lost  some  of  my  Calvinistic  notions,  and  my  feel- 
ings became  considerably  more  liberal;  but  I  had  no 
very  decided  opinions  as  to  the  doctrines  of  Christianity 
and  did  not  appreciate  the  importance  of  religion  as  it 
deserved  to  be  appreciated. 

During  the  last  winter  of  my  stay  at  Crefeld  it  was 
the  headquarters  of  the  french  army  of  Sambre  et 
Meuse,  then  commanded  by  General  Jourdan ;  after- 
wards one  of  the  Mareschals  of  France.  This  army, 
after  gaining  the  hard  contested  battle  of  Fleurus, 
which  lasted  three  days,  and  a  less  considerable  action 
on  the  Rohr  (if  my  memory  serves  me)  forced  the  Im- 
perial Army  (as  the  united  Austrian  and  Germanic  Army 
was  then  called)  to  take  shelter  on  the  right  bank  of  the 
Rhine.  This  happened  in  the  fall  of  the  year  1794.  I 
have  some  reason  of  remembering  the  retreat  of  the 
Imperialists,  as  I  run  some  risk  of  getting  into  a  scrape 
by  it.  The  students  had,  on  a  Saturday  afternoon,  gone 
to  a  farm  belonging  to  the  Institute.  This  farm  was 
situated  near  an  extensive  heath,  the  field  of  battle 
where,  during  the  Seven  Year  war,  the  French  were 
defeated  by  the  Prussian  Army  under  the  hereditary 
Prince  of  Brunswick.  To  that  field,  still  covered  with 
the  lines  and  other  works  formerly  thrown  up  by  the 


24  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

French,  one  of  my  fellow  students  and  myself  went  to 
exercise  ourselves  in  practical  Geometry,  by  measuring, 
or  taking  the  bearings,  of  some  of  these  works.  While 
thus  engaged,  we  observed  an  object  at  a  distance,  which 
attracted  our  attention,  and  which  we  soon  made  out  to 
be  a  body  of  cavalry  moving  in  our  direction.  Instead 
of  setting  out  immediately  to  give  notice  to  our  fellow 
students  of  the  approach  of  these  troops,  we  with  true 
boyish  thoughtlessness,  hid  ourselves  in  some  bushes 
growing  on  the  old  french  lines.  Here  we  remained 
until  the  troops  had  come  quite  near.  We  then  became 
sensible  of  the  awkwardness  of  our  situation.  To  retreat 
by  the  heath  must  have  inevitably  drawn  on  us  the 
attention  of  the  troops.  We,  therefore,  leaped  into  the 
trench,  which  fortunately  run  nearly  parallel  with  the 
road.  Here  the  old  lines  hid  us  from  being  seen,  and 
by  running  as  fast  as  we  could,  we  reached  the  farm  in 
time  to  enable  the  students  to  retire  towards  town  be- 
fore the  arrival  of  the  troops.  Had  our  motions  (which 
certainly  were  somewhat  suspicious)  been  observed,  we 
might  have  gotten  into  difficulty.  That  same  evening 
I  went  again  with  one  of  the  Professors  to  the  farm  in 
order  to  save  the  Cattle,  Carts  &c.  Although  it  was  now 
night,  we  still  met  with  troops  in  rapid  retreat ;  and  we 
then  learned  that  the  retreat  of  this  body  towards  Dus- 
seldorf  had  been  cut  off,  and  that  they  were  now  endeav- 
ouring to  cross  the  Rhine  lower  down,  towards  Wesel, 
in  which  they  succeeded. 

A  few  days  after  this  the  french  army  arrived,  and 
was  for  some  time  hutted  on  the  old  field  of  battle  and 
the  adjoining  farms,  the  headquarters  being  in  the  town 
of  Crefeld.  The  discipline  of  the  army  was  excellent, 
and  no  disorders  were  committed  by  the  troops,  but  the 
country  suffered  severely  by  the  enormous  requisitions 
that  were  made  to  feed  and  clothe  the  army,  wnich  was 
really  distitute  of  everything.  On  this  occasion  I  had 
an  opportunity  of  seeing  several  persons  whose  names 
belong  to  the  history  of  that  eventful  period.  Besides 


THE  HOLLANDER  26 

the  General  in  Chief  Jourdan,  there  was  Kleber,  after- 
wards assassinated  in  Egypt;  Le  Fevre,  subsequently 
Mareschal  and  Duke  of  Dantsig ;  Bichepanse,  who  died 
Governor  of  one  of  the  french  West  indie  Islands ; 
D'Hautpoutt,  who  was  killed  in  battle  in  Germany,  Genl 
Championet,  and,  if  I  mistake  not,  Bernardotte,  the 
present  King  of  Sweden,  and  Hoche,  the  pacificator  of 
the  Vende.  Of  these  two  last  I  have  however  no  dis- 
tinct recollection. 

I  left  Crefeld  in  the  beginning  of  the  Summer  of 
1795,  and  I  may  as  well  mention  here,  that  the  Institute 
which  was  already  on  the  decline  when  I  left  it,  was  not 
long  afterwards  entirely  broken  up.  Professor  Schehl, 
who  was  at  the  head  of  it,  died  in  1794.  Shortly  after- 
wards Prof.  Lange,  one  of  the  principal  Instructors,  left 
it.  These  vacancies  were  inadequately  supplied.  Some 
time  afterwards  the  Widow  Schehl  married  a  Gentleman 
who  passed  himself  as  a  Swiss,  but  who  was  subsequently 
arrested  as  a  french  Emigrant  and  carried  prisoner  to 
Paris.  His  wife  accompanied  him,  and  the  School  was 
broken  up. 

During  my  residence  at  Crefeld,  my  Brother  John 
had  made  a  voyage  to  the  United  States,  and  had  re- 
turned to  Holland.1  He  sailed  for  America  in  1793  and 

1  In  an  autobiography  written  for  his  children  Mr.  Huidekoper's  son 
Frederic  remarked  that  Mr.  Jan  Huidekoper  "  had  in  early  life  paid  a 
short  visit  to  America  in  a  vessel  which  had  sealed  orders.  The  vessel 
landed  in  a  high  northern  latitude,  and  some  of  the  passengers  found 
their  way  to  the  northern  portion  of  the  United  States.  Among  these 
was  uncle  John." 

It  was  while  Mr.  Jan  Huidekoper  was  traveling  in  America  that  Talley- 
rand met  him.  Talleyrand  wrote  of  this  meeting  in  1794,  "  I  made  up  my 
mind  to  leave  Philadelphia,  and  therefore  proposed  to  M.  de  Beaumetz  and 
to  a  Dutch  gentleman  by  the  name  of  Heydecoper  to  travel  with  me.  They 
both  accepted,  and  I  mast  confess  that  I  was  pleased  with  the  undertaking 
from  the  beginning."  (Memoirs  of  the  Prince  de  Talleyrand,  edited,  with 
a  preface  and  notes,  by  the  Dnc  de  Broglie,  vol.  i.,  p.  176.)  Further  on 
in  his  narrative  Talleyrand  relates  an  amusing  incident.  "  Once  in  the 
heart  of  Connecticut  ...  we  stopped  at  a  house  where  the  people  con- 
sented to  give  us  a  bed  and  supper.  .  .  .  The  meal  consisted  of  smoked 


26  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

returned  to  Europe  in  the  winter  of  1794-1795.  What 
was  the  precise  object  of  his  visit  to  this  Country  I  have 
never  known  positively.  I  have  reason  to  believe  how- 
ever, that  he  had  been  engaged,  by  the  Directors  of  the 
Holland  Land  Company,  to  be  their  general  agent  in 
this  Country  in  the  place  of  Mr.  Casenove,  who  then 
held  that  station,  but  was  about  to  be  recalled ;  but  that, 
in  consequence  of  an  engagement  which  he  contracted 
before  leaving  Europe,  and  which  would  oblige  him  to 
return  to  Holland,  his  trip  to  America  was  changed  into  a 
mere  tour  of  observation. 

My  Brother  had  long  been  attached  to  a  Miss  Stin- 
stra,  a  distant  relation  of  his,  and  his  affection  was,  I 
believe,  returned.  But  she  was  rich  ;  My  Brother  was 
poor;  —  She  belonged  to  the  burgher  Aristocracy,  and 
he  was  as  yet  nothing  but  a  Clerk  in  a  Counting  house. 
These  things,  which  have  much  more  weight  in  Europe 
than  in  this  Country,  prevented  their  engagement.  The 
lady  was  afterwards  prevailed  on  to  marry  a  very  wealthy 
man ;  was  not  happy ;  became  soon  a  widow,  and  en- 
gaged herself  to  My  Brother  shortly  before  he  set  out 
for  America.  On  his  return  he  found  her  in  the  last 
stages  of  consumption,  and  arrived  but  just  in  time  to 
see  her  breathe  her  last.  About  a  year  afterwards  he 
married  her  younger  Sister,  by  whom  he  had  seven  Chil- 
dren, of  which  six  now  survive.  She  died  herself  some 
years  ago. 

fish,  ham,  potatoes,  strong  beer,  and  brandy.  .  .  .  The  two  young  fellows, 
who  were  rather  elevated,  spoke  of  a  journey  they  were  about  to  under- 
take ;  they  were  going  beaver-hunting  for  a  few  weeks.  They  spoke  of 
their  expedition  in  such  glowing  terms  that  .  .  .  M.  de  Beaumetz,  Mr. 
Heydecoper  and  myself  were  dying  to  join  them."  M.  de  Beaumetz,  in 
fact,  proposed  doing  so,  and  the  plan  was  entered  into  with  alacrity.  They 
went  to  bed  committed  to  the  beaver-hunt.  By  the  next  morning,  how- 
ever, their  enthusiasm  had  somewhat  cooled.  "  We  began  to  realize," 
said  Talleyrand,  "  that  spending  a  couple  of  months  in  the  woods  or 
marshes  was  really  too  much  of  a  good  thing,  so  we  endeavored  to  quash 
the  agreement  made  the  night  before.  We  got  free  with  a  few  dollars, 
and  resumed  our  journey." 


THE  HOLLANDER  27 

On  my  return  to  Holland  I  first  visited  my  Brother 
John  in  Amsterdam,  who  kindly  proposed  to  me  the 
alternative,  either  to  give  me  a  situation  as  Clerk  in 
the  Commercial  house  he  was  about  establishing,  or  to 
furnish  me  with  the  means  of  going  to  America.  I  de- 
termined in  favor  of  the  latter.  Holland  had  been  con- 
quered by  the  french  in  the  previous  winter,  and  was 
now  involved  in  a  war  with  England,  by  which  her  com- 
merce was  in  a  great  measure  destroyed.  A  commercial 
carreer  offered  therefore  there  no  very  flattering  pro- 
spects to  a  young  man  without  fortune  or  connections, 
who  would  have  to  enter  into  competition  for  a  living 
with  men  who  possessed  both  wealth  and  family  influ- 
ence in  a  country  overstocked  with  inhabitants.  On  the 
other  hand,  America  offered  plenty  of  scope  for  indi- 
vidual exertion.  Perhaps  too  that  the  enthusiastic  man- 
ner in  which  my  Brother  spoke  of  America,  and  the 
wish  I  had  in  common  with  most  Europeans  of  becom- 
ing a  country  gentleman  and  landed  proprietor,  in  the 
European  sense  of  that  term,  assisted  in  influencing  my 
decision.  It  was  therefore  agreed,  that  I  should  spend 
a  year  with  my  parents  and  relations,  and  that  I  should 
sail  the  following  year  for  America. 

After  spending  a  few  days  with  My  Brother  in  Am- 
sterdam, I  set  out  to  visit  my  parents  at  Hogeveen. 
There  I  remained  till  the  summer  of  the  following  year, 
spending  my  time  in  reading  such  books  as  I  could  ob- 
tain, in  fishing,  hunting  and  in  visiting  some  of  my  Ma- 
ternal relations,  particularly  My  Mother's  brothers  at 
Vries,  and  an  old  uncle  who  lived  at  Peise.  I  felt  re- 
luctant to  leave  my  parents,  who  were  already  advanced 
in  life,  for  I  felt  that  I  should  see  them  no  more  in  this 
world;  but  I  saw  too,  that  the  time  was  not  very 
distant  when  they  would  stand  in  need  of  assistance ; 
and  it  was  only  by  leaving  them  that  I  could  hope  to 
acquire  the  means  of  supplying  their  necessities. 

About  the  latter  part  of  June,  or  the  beginning  of 
July,  1796, 1  left  my  paternal  home  to  commence  my 


28  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

voyage  to  America.  I  stopt  at  Amsterdam,  where  I 
spent  some  weeks  with  My  Brother,  who  was  then  mar- 
ried, and  was  engaged  in  commercial  business,  in  part- 
nership with  a  Swiss  Gentleman  of  the  name  of  Tobler. 
A  Mr.  Bicker  was  afterwards  admitted  as  a  third  part- 
ner into  the  Concern,  but  it  proved  unprofitable,  and 
after  a  few  years  My  Brother  withdrew  from  it,  and 
commenced  doing  an  Insurance  business  by  himself,  in 
which  he  was  more  successful.  I  left  Amsterdam  about 
the  10th  of  August  in  the  trekschuit  (canal  boat)  for 
the  Helder,  and  sailed  from  thence  on  the  12th  in  the 
Brig  Prudence,  Capt.  Hovey. 

This  was  a  small  vessel  of  one  hundred  and  twenty 
tons  burthen,  and  altogether  a  sorry  concern.  She  was 
old,  leaky,  a  bad  sailer,  had  poor  rigging,  and  sails  so 
old  as  to  stand  in  constant  need  of  repair.  Everything 
else  on  board  was  in  perfect  keeping  with  this.  The 
Captain  and  Mate  were  a  couple  of  old  sailors,  who,  after 
sailing  many  years  before  the  mast,  had  worked  their 
way  up  until  they  had  attained  their  present  stations. 
They  were  good  practical  seamen,  but  very  illiterate. 
The  rest  of  the  crew  (besides  the  cook)  consisted  of  five 
seamen,  of  which  an  English  sloop  of  war  impressed  one 
the  second  day  after  we  sailed,  thus  reducing  our  crew 
to  the  smallest  number  we  could  possibly  get  along  with, 
and  rendering  it  totally  inadequate  to  the  management 
of  the  vessel  in  case  one  of  the  sailors  should  become 
sick,  or  meet  with  an  accident  which  should  disqualify 
him  from  doing  duty.  Besides  this,  the  Mate,  who  was 
already  somewhat  advanced  in  years,  was  of  a  feeble 
constitution,  and  had  a  serious  spell  of  sickness  during 
the  passage.  Luckily  we  had  an  extra  Mate  on  board, 
one  who  had  belonged  to  an  other  American  vessel,  but 
who,  having  in  Holland  disagreed  with  his  captain,  had 
left  his  vessel,  and  came  over  as  a  passenger  in  ours. 
This  man  was  a  valuable  addition  to  our  crew. 

As  to  the  table,  our  Captain  could  not  be  charged 
with  wasting  the  property  of  the  Owner  in  sumptuous 


THE  HOLLANDER  29 

living.  For  a  few  days  after  leaving  port  we  had  fresh 
mutton,  but  after  that  we  were  entirely  confined  to  the 
ship's  provisions,  consisting  of  very  salt  and  very  hard 
beef ;  salt  pork,  sea  biscuit,  bad  butter,  indifferent  pa- 
tatoes  and  beans.  It  is  true  we  had  a  small  supply  of 
fowls  on  board ;  but  as  these  were  poorly  taken  care  of, 
and  generally  killed  only  after  they  got  sick,  to  save 
their  lives  as  our  Captain  phrased  it,  they  did  not  mend 
our  fare  much. 

You  will  perhaps  ask,  how  I  came  to  embark  on  board 
of  such  a  wretched  vessel.  This  was  owing  to  my  Bro- 
ther's trusting  the  arrangement  for  my  voyage  to  a  dutch 
ship  broker  in  whom  he  placed  more  confidence  than  the 
man  deserved.  There  was  at  that  time,  an  excellent  ves- 
sel lying  in  the  port  at  Amsterdam,  bound  to  New  York, 
and  which  sailed  two  days  before  the  Prudence.  Of 
that  vessel  we  were  kept  in  utter  ignorance,  and  through 
that  man's  instrumentality  My  passage  was  engaged  on 
board  of  the  old  Brig. 

We  had  a  passage  of  sixty  three  days.  During  the 
first  three  days  I  was  seasick,  and  for  a  week  more  I 
had  no  appetite.  After  that  I  was  perfectly  restored ; 
ate  my  seabiscuit  with  as  much  appetite  as  any  one  on 
board,  and  never  felt  myself  in  the  least  affected  by  the 
hardest  weather  we  had.  During  the  passage  I  had  a 
good  opportunity  of  exercising  myself  in  learning  to 
speak  English.  I  had  studied  the  English  language 
somewhat  while  in  Germany,  and  could  understand  tol- 
erably well  what  I  read,  but  I  could  neither  speak  it 
intelligibly,  nor  could  I  understand  it  when  it  was  spoken 
by  others.  Gradually  however  I  began  to  comprehend 
all  that  was  said,  and  before  we  arrived  at  New  York  I 
had  learned  to  express  my  meaning,  if  not  always  cor- 
rectly, at  least  intelligibly. 

I  arrived  at  New  York  on  the  14th  October,  1796. 
While  ascending  the  bay,  a  young  man  came  on  board, 
and  informed  the  Captain  that  his  owner  (a  Hamburger 
of  the  name  of  Hoffmann)  had  failed.  In  consequence 


30  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

of  this  information  the  brig  came  to  anchor ;  and  the 
Captain,  the  young  man  who  had  boarded  us  and  I,  went 
ashore  on  Long  Island,  hired  a  carriage,  and  went  to 
New  York  by  land.  At  the  house  where  we  hired  the 
carriage,  I  was  very  much  struck  with  the  appearance  of 
a  portion  of  the  furniture.  It  was  precisely  such  as  I 
had  occasionally  seen  in  a  few  antiquated  houses  in  Hol- 
land, and  nowhere  else,  and  was  evidently  a  relick  of  a 
former  century,  little  in  keeping  with  the  appearance  of 
things  out  of  doors,  and  the  dress  and  manners  of  the 
persons  whom  I  saw  about.  In  a  few  minutes  however 
everything  was  explained.  While  the  carriage  was  get- 
ting ready,  dinner  was  served,  and,  with  it,  entered  an 
old  gentleman  and  lady  dressed  so  exactly  in  the  old 
dutch  fashion,  that  I  could  not  help  thinking  that  I 
must  be  in  an  old  dutch  family ;  and  when  a  moment 
afterwards  I  heard  the  old  man  ask  a  blessing  in  pro- 
vincial low  dutch  I  could  almost  have  fancied  myself 
back  again  in  my  own  native  province  of  Drenthe.  I 
found  afterwards  that,  on  Long  Island,  in  New  York, 
along  the  North  river,  at  Albany,  Schenectady  &c  the 
low  dutch  was  yet  in  general  the  common  language  of 
most  of  the  old  people,  and  particularly  of  the  Negroes ; 
though  in  New  York  it  had  begun  to  be  superceded  by 
the  English  language. 

I  thus,  at  the  age  of  twenty,  landed  in  a  foreign 
country,  with  the  language  of  which  I  was  little  ac- 
quainted, and  which  so  far  as  I  know,  did  not  contain  a 
single  person  that  I  had  ever  seen  ;  and  here  I  was  to 
make  my  own  way,  with  no  other  assistance  than  what 
could  be  derived  from  two  or  three  letters  of  introduc- 
tion to  Countrymen  of  my  own  at  Oldenbarneveld  (now 
Trenton)  and  Casenovia ;  and  a  letter  of  credit  for 
money  to  supply  my  present  wants.  What  rendered  my 
situation  more  difficult  was,  that  I  had  little  or  no  ac- 
quaintance with  the  ways  of  the  world  ;  had  never  been 
acustomed  to  act  for  myself ;  and  that  my  education 
had  tended  more  to  teach  me  what  others  had  thought, 


THE  HOLLANDER  31 

than  to  think  myself.  I  was  therefore  very  deficient  in 
experience;  in  proper  reliance  on  myself,  and  in  the 
development  of  my  mental  powers.  Such  were  some  of 
the  disadvantages  under  which  I  set  out  in  this  country, 
and,  notwithstanding  these,  a  kind  Providence  has  con- 
stantly so  overruled  events,  that,  with  the  exception  of 
the  loss  of  friends,  my  life  has  almost  been  an  uninter- 
rupted scene  of  prosperity. 

The  City  of  New  York  was  then  very  different  from 
what  it  is  now,  and  did  not  impress  me  favourably. 
Everywhere  the  good  and  even  handsome  buildings,  were 
intermixed  with  mean,  low,  ugly  buildings,  which  ap- 
peared to  have  been  erected  in  derision  of  every  prin- 
cipal of  architecture  and  good  taste ;  and  besides  my 
dutch  ideas  were  quite  shocked  to  find  the  cows  and 
hogs  run  loose  in  the  streets. 

A  letter  to  his  brother  in  Amsterdam,  begun  by  Mr. 
Huidekoper  while  the  vessel  was  becalmed  in  sight  of 
Long  Island  and  waiting  for  wind  to  enable  her  to  com- 
plete her  voyage,  speaks  farther  of  the  voyage  and  of  the 
landing.  When  we  remember  that  in  his  long  life  Mr. 
Huidekoper  never  again  looked  upon  Nieuwediep  and 
the  Helder,  never  again  saw  rise  upon  his  sight  the  dunes 
which  then  sank  from  view,  his  farewell  is  all  the  more 
significant.  Significant  is  it  also  that  one  of  the  first 
incidents  of  his  voyage  should  be  the  haling  from  his 
vessel  by  a  British  force  of  an  American  boy,  to  be  im- 
pressed into  the  British  navy.  The  American  grievance 
which  was  to  culminate  in  the  War  of  1812  presented 
itself  to  him  in  a  thoroughly  concrete  form. 

The  letter1  is  dated  "At  Sea,  this  14th  Oct.,  1796," 
and  is  as  follows :  — 

1  This  letter,  written  in  French,  has  been  translated  by  Mr.  Huidekoper's 
granddaughter,  Mrs.  Emma  C.  Cortazzo. 


32  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

MY  VERY  DEAR  BROTHER,  —  At  last,  thank  God, 
after  sixty-one  days  I  once  more  see  land.  Since  yester- 
day we  have  been  in  sight  of  Long  Island  and  since  this 
morning  I  can  hear  the  waves  breaking  on  the  shore. 
You,  who  have  been  at  sea,  can  judge  with  what  impa- 
tience we  are  awaiting  a  cessation  of  the  calm  which  fell 
upon  us  yesterday,  and  which  has  prevented  our  making 
more  than  three  leagues  in  the  last  twenty-four  hours. 

You  will  have  learned  by  the  letter  which  I  wrote  you 
from  the  Helder  that  we  were  ready  to  sail  on  the  12th 
of  August,  but  as  the  wind  was  contrary  on  that  day, 
we  were  unable  to  leave  Nieuwediep  until  the  evening 
of  the  13th,  so  that  we  only  really  set  sail  on  the  14th 
with  a  fair  wind. 

We  descried,  on  leaving  port,  an  English  fleet  of 
eighteen  sail,  and  soon  one  of  their  cutters  boarded  us 
to  see  our  papers,  after  which  it  went  in  pursuit  of 
another  vessel  about  to  enter  and  which  was  hugging 
the  shore  to  avail  itself  of  the  protection  of  the  cannon 
mounted  among  the  Dunes.  A  little  later  seasickness 
overcame  me  and  obliged  me  to  retire  to  my  cabin  very 
early.  Before  going  below  my  eyes  lingered  once  more 
on  the  Dunes  which  border  the  snores  of  my  native  land. 
I  tried  vainly  to  distinguish  those  that  are  near  Haar- 
lem —  I  knew  that  you  must  be  there  on  that  day,  for 
it  was  Sunday.  Memory  passed  in  review  the  happy 
days  I  had  spent  there,  and  my  heart  was  very  full.  I 
felt  that  I  had  quitted  my  own  country,  and  that  I  was 
leaving  there  all  I  loved  most  in  the  world.  The  sweet 
hope  of  soon  returning  could  not  soften  my  regret,  for 
the  future  seemed  dark  and  uncertain.  Sad  thoughts 
filled  my  mind,  and  my  eyes  were  wet  with  tears. 

My  indisposition  increased,  and  I  have  never  felt  more 
forcibly  the  truth  of  a  passage  I  have  somewhere  read, 
that  when  the  body  is  prostrated,  the  mind  loses  its 
vigour.  Do  not  think,  however,  that  I  regretted  the  de- 
cision I  had  made.  I  had  taken  it  only  after  mature  re- 
flection, and  even  in  the  midst  of  my  regrets  at  leaving 


THE  HOLLANDER  33 

my  beloved  country  I  felt  that  the  one  to  which  I  was 
going  would  suit  me  better.  At  last  sleep  laid  my  sad 
thoughts  to  rest,  and  the  next  morning  we  had  lost  sight 
of  land. 

The  16th  we  were  coasting  the  shores  of  England, 
and  all  that  day  I  could  see  its  barren  and  little  culti- 
vated coast,  which  offered  little  that  was  attractive  ex- 
cept the  picturesque  position  of  its  towns  and  villages, 
of  which  some  were  close  to  the  shore,  while  others 
climbed  the  hillsides  or  topped  the  cliffs  dominating  the 
sea.  On  one  side  I  could  see  on  the  far  horizon  the 
coast  of  France  near  Calais. 

The  Channel  was  alive  with  English  cruisers.  We 
spoke  one  near  Dover  and  two  hours  later  an  officer 
from  a  royal  man-of-war  boarded  us,  not  to  see  our  pa- 
pers as  is  usual,  but  to  see  if  he  could  not  impress  some 
able  seaman.  In  effect,  he  took  our  cabin-boy,  an  Amer- 
ican, on  the  frivolous  pretext  that  his  certificate  of  na- 
tionality had  not  been  renewed  or  re-examined  by  an 
English  consul  within  two  years.  He  told  us,  as  an  ex- 
cuse, that  the  admiralty  had  signified  to  him  that  they 
could  supply  no  more  sailors,  and  that  consequently  he 
had  to  take  them  wherever  he  could  find  them.  It  was 
the  second  time  that  our  unlucky  cabin-boy  had  had  the 
honor  of  serving  his  Britannic  Majesty  in  a  manner  so 
unjust  and  so  contrary  to  the  rights  of  man  —  and  this 
is  the  almost  daily  fate  of  many  American  sailors. 

The  wind  being  favorable,  after  two  days  we  left  the 
Lizard  behind  us,  which  means,  as  you  know,  that  we 
bade  adieu  to  the  last  glimpse  of  land. 

Some  days  later  we  passed  during  the  night  an  enor- 
mous fleet  composed  of  probably  over  one  hundred  ves- 
sels. The  darkness,  which  prevented  our  counting  them, 
also  left  us  in  ignorance  of  their  nationality.  We  could, 
nevertheless,  count  more  than  fifty  sail.  The  weather 
continued  fair  and  I  soon  felt  quite  myself,  having  dur- 
ing the  whole  voyage  only  five  or  six  attacks  of  sea- 
sickness, which  left  no  ill  results  except  an  aversion  to 


34  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

food.  In  the  end  my  appetite  returned  and  I  com- 
menced to  dine  below,  which  I  had  not  done  heretofore, 
having  had  my  meals  served  me  on  deck. 

I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  Hovey  for  constant  attention 
and  care,  and  I  was  often  puzzled  which  to  admire  most 
—  his  great  kindness  of  heart  or  his  narrow  and  super- 
stitious mind !  To  give  you  a  sample  of  the  latter,  he 
believed  that  to  dream  of  cattle,  horses,  or  of  dancing 
inevitably  foretold  a  storm,  and  I  saw  him  one  day  over- 
come with  fear  because  a  cat  we  had  on  board  was 
playing ! 

We  made  but  slow  progress,  although  the  wind  was 
mostly  favorable,  not  only  on  account  of  the  frequent 
calms,  which  sometimes  lasted  several  days,  but  because 
our  ship  was  very  foul  with  barnacles  or  marine  plants. 
After  three  weeks  the  wind  became  contrary,  and  soon 
we  met  with  a  furious  gale  which  was  succeeded  by  six 
or  seven  others,  and  the  last  one  continued  for  thirty- 
six  hours.  Finally  the  wind  veered,  the  weather  became 
fine,  but  the  calms  returned  —  and  so  it  went  on  during 
our  entire  voyage,  which  caused  us  much  delay.  We  had 
two  or  three  terrific  gales,  but  in  not  one  was  the  wind 
favourable.  However,  after  we  passed  the  Grand  Banks 
we  had  better  weather,  although  it  was  often  variable. 
Day  before  yesterday  we  spoke  a  vessel  whose  destina- 
tion is  Rhode  Island,  and  which  told  us  that  a  French 
fleet  of  twelve  ships  of  the  line  and  three  frigates  had 
passed  the  Grand  Banks,  going  to  take  possession  of 
Newfoundland.  I  cannot  vouch  for  the  truth  of  this 
news  —  perhaps  I  may  learn  more  of  it  in  New  York. 

NEW  YORK,  this  19th  of  October. 

Here  I  am  at  last  in  this  city.  I  arrived  on  the  17th 
after  a  voyage  of  sixty-three  days  !  We  had  sailed  as 
far  up  York  River  as  ten  miles  from  the  city  when  a 
young  man  came  aboard  representing  Mr.  Hoffman,  the 
owner  of  our  vessel.  After  conversing  for  a  few  minutes 
with  our  captain,  the  latter  ordered  our  anchor  dropped. 


THE  HOLLANDER  35 

He  informed  me  that  since  he  had  left  New  York  some 
business  complications  had  arisen  which  would  oblige 
him  to  go  to  New  York  by  carriage,  and  that  the  vessel 
might  have  to  remain  where  she  was  for  some  days.  He 
invited  me  to  accompany  him,  which  I  gladly  did.  How 
beautiful  Long  Island  is  —  especially  for  a  Hollander 
who  has  seen  only  his  own  country  !  Only  heavy  showers 
that  day  kept  me  from  going  the  whole  distance  on 
foot !  I  was  enchanted  with  all  I  saw.  Fruit  trees,  grain 
fields,  trees  and  shrubs  —  everything,  almost,  was  new 
to  me,  and  I  saw  here  too,  that  primitive  state  of  nature 
which  we  try  with  little  success  to  imitate  in  our  "  Eng- 
lish gardens  "  in  miniature. 

I  was  not  equally  pleased  on  entering  New  York. 
The  pigs  and  cows  running  about  the  streets  first  dis- 
gusted me,  and  the  more  I  saw  of  the  town  the  more  I 
realized  its  inferiority  to  the  majority  of  our  Dutch 
cities,  as  regards  the  buildings  and  the  streets.  Even 
the  fashionable  promenade  of  the  Battery,  of  which 
one  hears  so  much,  has  nothing  to  boast  of  except  the 
view  over  Staten  Island  and  the  river.  It  has  not  even 
trees  to  protect  one  from  the  hot  sun.  What  I  do  ap- 
preciate is  the  perfect  weather  —  although  the  season  is 
well  advanced  and  you  in  Holland  will  soon  be  having 
snow. 

I  was  only  able  to  call  upon  Messrs.  Le  Roy  and  Bay- 
ard yesterday  as  our  vessel,  where  I  had  left  all  my  lug- 
gage, only  came  into  the  port  yesterday.  I  was  received 
by  Mr.  MacEvers  in  the  most  friendly  manner  possible, 
and  I  find  in  him  one  of  the  most  honest  and  affable 
men  I  have  ever  met. 

He  begged  me  to  call  upon  him  this  morning  to  set- 
tle some  business  matters,  after  which  I  am  to  dine  with 
him  at  his  country  house.  Mr.  Le  Roy  has  promised  to 
introduce  me  to  the  family  of  Mr.  Mappa,1  who  is  still 
here,  and  who  was  seventy-six  days  in  crossing  the 
ocean.  They  were  obliged  to  pass  to  the  north  of  Eng- 

1  Adam  G.  Mappa. 


36  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

land,  and  a  gale  carried  them  to  sixty-two  degrees  north 
latitude. 

Most  of  the  ships  arriving  here  have  suffered  from 
the  late  storms,  but  there  is  the  greatest  difference  in 
the  length  of  their  passages,  some  having  come  from 
England  at  the  same  time  as  we,  which  were  but  nine- 
teen or  twenty-three  days  at  sea.  It  is  true  that  a  French 
fleet  has  seized  Newfoundland,  and  they  think  that  it  is 
the  fleet  of  Richery.  I  have  seen  a  letter  in  a  New  York 
journal  which  states  that  a  French  frigate  and  a  priva- 
teer had  taken  sixty  merchantmen  coming  from  Jamaica 
and  had  destroyed  all  but  six  —  of  which  three  arrived 
in  the  port  whence  the  letter  was  written.  Perhaps 
this  news  is  exaggerated,  but  it  seems  certain  they  have 
taken  some  vessels,  for  they  have  come  in  to  Philadel- 
phia. 

The  20th  October. 

I  was  yesterday  at  Mr.  Le  Roy's.  There  was  a  large 
company,  and  they  spoke  much  of  you.  Every  one  asked 
for  news  of  you  and  inquired  whether  you  were  not 
coming  again  to  America.  Everybody  was  most  polite 
to  me  and  I  was  charmingly  entertained. 

I  leave  to-morrow  for  Albany  with  two  Englishmen 
who  are  going  to  Canada.  Adieu,  my  dear  Brother, 
write  me  often  and  send  your  letters  to  Messrs.  Le  Roy 
and  Bayard.  They  have  promised  to  forward  mine  to 
you.  My  compliments  to  my  sister  and  to  Madam  Stin- 
stra.1 

This  letter  has  the  following  postscript,  written  in 
English  :  — 

DEAR  BROTHER, — Messrs.  Le  Roy,  Bayard,  &  McEvers 
have  furnished  me  with  one  hundred  dollars.  Be  pleased 
to  give  them  credit  and  charge  my  account  for  it.  They 
will  give  me  letters  of  introduction  to  some  gentlemen 
in  the  country,  and  charge  Mr.  Boon  to  furnish  me 

1  His  brother's  mother-in-law. 


THE  HOLLANDER  37 

with  whatever  money  I  shall  have  occasion  for.  You 
may  be  persuaded  that  I  shall  do  all  that  is  in  my  power 
to  enable  myself  to  return  you  the  advances  you  have 
made,  as  soon  as  possible.  Pray  be  so  good  by  your 
first  as  to  tell  me  the  amount  of  those  bills  you  paid 
for  me  after  I  was  departed.  I  have  had  no  time  to 
go  to  Messrs.  Verplanck.  Mr.  McEvers  told  me  when 
I  asked  him  after  Mr.  van  Ender,  that  a  gentleman, 
which  he  called  Mr.  Vandeneinden  was  dead  and  thought 
that  that  would  be  the  gentleman  you  told  me  to  inquire 
after.  I  am  in  haste.  It  is  already  quite  dark,  and  I 
have  not  yet  finished  the  duplicate  of  your  letter.  Fare- 
well. 

P.  S.  I  speak  already  the  English  tongue  with  great 
facility. 

A  letter  to  his  father  and  mother,  written  October 
28,1  1796,  completes  the  account  of  his  arrival  in  his 
adopted  country. 

DEAREST  PARENTS  [he  begins] :  —  After  a  very  long 
voyage  lasting  63  days  I  have  at  last  arrived  here,  and 
find  myself,  thank  God,  in  the  best  of  health.  The  prin- 
cipal reason  why  I  was  desirous  of  reaching  port  was  the 
thought  that  you  might  become  uneasy  should  no  letter 
reach  you  before  the  middle  of  December.  You  might 
not  perhaps  think  of  the  fact  that  there  is  not  always  a 
ship  here  ready  to  sail  for  Holland  as  soon  as  my  letters 
reach  here,  and  you  must  therefore  not  worry  at  all  if 
in  future  my  letters  are  a  fortnight  longer  than  usual 
on  the  way.  ...  I  was  never  more  delighted  than  at 
the  sight  of  Long  Island,  where  we  landed.  Up  to  that 
time  I  had  not  seen  anything  that  could  compare  with 
it.  Trees,  fruits,  and  cereals  were  mostly  of  varieties 
with  which  I  was  not  acquainted.  Almost  all  the  in- 
habitants there  speak  Dutch,  and  they  fed  us  well,  prin- 

1  This  letter  and  others  to  his  parents  were  written  in  Dutch,  and  have 
been  translated  by  Mr.  Otto  von  Klock. 


38  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

cipally  on  fruits,  which,  after  living  so  long  on  stale 
food,  tasted  delicious.  .  .  .  My  letter  shows  that  I  am 
in  haste.  Give  my  regards  to  all  my  good  friends,  with- 
out exception.  I  embrace  Piet  and  Henderina  in  my 
thought.  I  hope  that  Piet  is  already  able  to  do  a  little 
carpentering.  I  will  write  them  the  first  of  the  month 
from  Oldenbarneveld  or  Cazenovia,  and  I  hope  that  they 
will  not  fail  [to  write],  but  will  do  so  as  amply  as 
possible. 

A  quite  definite  intention  of  becoming  a  farmer  had 
been  in  Mr.  Huidekoper's  mind  when  he  left  Amsterdam, 
and  his  final  objective  point  was  Cazenovia,  where  Henry 
de  Clercq,  a  young  cousin  of  the  Stinstras,  had  already 
begun  the  farmer's  life.  On  his  way  from  New  York, 
he  went  first  to  Albany,  and  thence  traveled  by  stage 
to  old  Fort  Schuyler.  But  he  had  come  provided  with 
letters  to  two  other  Netherlanders,  Gerrit  Boon  and 
Adam  Gerard  Mappa,  both  of  whom  were  at  that  time 
at  Oldenbarneveld.1  To  Oldenbarneveld  accordingly  he 
directed  his  steps  before  seeking  Mr.  de  Clercq  at  Caze- 
novia. The  autobiography  goes  on  to  speak  of  his 
journey  and  of  the  Dutch  families  at  Oldenbarneveld 
and  Kempwyk. 

To  be  able,  however,  to  appreciate  Mr.  Huidekoper's 
surroundings  at  Oldenbarneveld  and  to  understand  his 
allusions  to  his  friends  there,  it  is  necessary  for  us  to 
make  a  preliminary  detour,  and  see  who  were  the  men 
who  made  up  this  little  Dutch  circle  of  which  he  found 
himself  a  member. 

They  were  mainly  fellow  countrymen,  either  banished 
or  self-exiled  from  the  Netherlands,  members  of  the 
Patriot  party  who  had  sought  a  refuge  in  America,  for 

1  The  name  Oldenbarneveld  was  afterward  changed  to  Trenton.   It 
has  of  late  become  Barneveld. 


THE  HOLLANDER  39 

America  represented  to  the  Dutch  patriots  all  that  they 
had  hoped  to  see  realized  in  their  own  land.  The  Amer- 
ican Revolution  and  the  long  discussion  of  human  rights 
and  liberties  that  accompanied  it  encouraged  them  to 
make  a  desperate  struggle  in  Holland  for  freedom  of  the 
press,  popular  representation,  and  civil,  as  opposed  to 
military,  authority,  while  at  the  same  tune  causing 
them  to  act  a  most  friendly  part  toward  the  United 
States.  It  was  through  the  influence  of  leading  patriots 
that  the  Netherlands  accorded  recognition  to  Adams, 
and  the  first  investors  in  American  bonds  were  men  of 
patriot  affiliations. 

By  far  the  most  interesting  of  the  group  in  Olden- 
barneveld  was  Francis  Adrian  van  der  Kemp.1  Van  der 
Kemp  was  born  at  Kampen,  in  Overyssel,  on  May  4, 
1752.  An  eager  student,  particularly  of  philosophy,  he 
entered  the  ministry  in  1775,  and  in  1776,  though  not 
himself  a  Mennonite,  became  the  pastor  of  a  Mennonite 
Baptist 2  society  in  Leyden,  "  the  richest  congregation," 
John  Adams  called  it,  "  in  Europe."  3 

Mr.  van  der  Kemp's  experience  in  arriving  at  his  con- 
victions concerning  the  fundamental  truths  of  religion  is 
strikingly  like  Mr.  Huidekoper's.  "  I  remained  in  my 
study,"  said  he,  "  and  continued  my  inquiries  night  and 
day.  ...  I  did  not  discover,  neither  searched  for,  the 
doctrines  of  Calvin,  Socinius,  Arminius,  or  Menno ; " 

1  For  the  facts  relating  to  van  der  Kemp  and  his  friends  see  Francis 
Adrian  van  der  Kemp,  an  Autobiography,  edited    by  Helen  Lincklaen 
Fairchild. 

2  The  Mennonites  were  Baptists.   Mr.  van  der  Kemp  says  in  his  auto- 
biography, "  A  few  old  members  of  my  congregation  shuddered  when  I 
told  them  that  my  father  followed  the  army  and  that  I  served  it  for  five 
years.   Dutch  Baptists  condemn  the  use  of  arms  in  any  case." 

8  Letter  to  Jefferson,  Life  and  Letters  of  John  Adams,  vol.  x.  p.  224. 


40  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

nor  did  he  describe  himself  as  limited  by  any  denomi- 
national lines.  Mrs.  Fairchild,  however,  very  justly  calls 
him  a  Unitarian. 

His  nearest  friends  were  men  who  like  himself  were 
prominent  in  the  Patriot  party.  It  was  under  their  guid- 
ance, particularly  that  of  Johan  Derk  van  der  Capellen, 
that  the  states  of  Overyssel  cast  their  deciding  vote 
against  allowing  the  "  Scotch  Brigade  "  of  Dutch  sol- 
diers to  fight  under  the  English  against  America.  Van 
der  Capellen  and  John  Luzac,  both  coworkers  with  van 
der  Kemp,  were  early  investors  in  American  bonds ; 
and  through  Capellen's  efforts,  which  were  seconded  by 
the  people,  the  Dutch  government  was  led  to  give  recog- 
nition to  Adams  as  United  States  envoy  and  thus  to  the 
United  States  as  a  nation. 

Van  der  Kemp  not  only  wrote  pamphlets  inveighing 
against  the  military  usurpation  of  civil  authority  and 
urging  popular  representation  and  the  freedom  of  the 
press,  but  printed  similar  works  by  his  friends ;  even 
shouldering  the  responsibility  of  one  of  the  produc- 
tions,—  which  involved  him  in  a  troublesome  trial  in 
the  courts.  More  than  this,  on  the  ground  that  military 
oppression  by  the  government  necessitated  an  armed 
militia,  he  raised  and  drilled  at  Leyden  a  company  of 
citizen  soldiers ;  and  with  other  Patriots  organized  the 
"  Vry  corps,"  or  volunteer  army,  among  the  people  of 
the  different  towns. 

When  the  Patriots  were  defeated,  van  der  Kemp  was 
thrown  into  prison.  He  was  released  on  the  payment  of 
a  heavy  ransom,  but  only  to  face  banishment.  Accom- 
panied by  his  wife  he  then  came  to  America.  He  lived 
first  upon  the  shore  of  the  North  River,  then,  finding 
this  beyond  his  means,  removed  to  "  Scriba's  Patent "  on 


THE  HOLLANDER  41 

Oneida  Lake,  where  he  was  very  happy  in  his  modest 
home,  Kempwyk,  in  which  Mr.  Huidekoper  paid  him  a 
visit.  But  Kempwyk  was  too  lonely  a  place  for  Mrs. 
van  der  Kemp.  She  pined  for  the  society  of  her  friend 
Mrs.  Mappa,  and  so  finally  Kempwyk  was  abandoned 
for  a  small  cottage  in  Oldenbarneveld.  There  Francis 
Adrian  van  der  Kemp  accomplished  the  monumental 
task  of  translating  from  the  Dutch  those  records  of  the 
West  India  Company  which  were  owned  by  the  State  of 
New  York,  a  work  which  gave  him  occupation  and  finan- 
cial support  during  most  of  his  remaining  years.  A 
thoroughly  cultivated  scholar,  "  the  most  learned  man 
in  America,"  as  De  Witt  Clinton  called  him,  it  was  only 
by  the  toil  of  his  hands  and  the  most  rigid  economy, 
added  to  his  work  of  translation,  that  he  could  keep  his 
gently  reared  wife  in  any  degree  of  comfort.  Still,  with 
the  treasured  remnant  of  his  once  extensive  library  he 
solaced  his  few  leisure  hours ;  and  he  always  kept  up  a 
correspondence,  not  only  with  his  friends  in  Holland, 
but  with  the  first  men  of  his  time  in  this  country.  His 
letters  to  John  Adams  —  intimate  letters,  speaking  of 
himself,  his  pursuits,  even  of  his  deprivations — are  those 
of  a  man  of  wide  interests  and  general  cultivation.  He 
also  enjoyed  the  friendship  of  Jefferson  to  such  an  extent 
as  to  be  one  of  the  very  few,  perhaps  not  more  than 
three  or  four  persons,  to  whom  Jefferson  confided  an 
autograph  copy  of  his  "Syllabus,  or  Estimate  of  the 
Merits  of  Jesus  compared  with  Others,"  which  was  pub- 
lished in  England,1  and  the  authorship  of  which  was  to 

1  In  the  Monthly  Repository  of  Theological  and  General  Literature, 
Ixxx.  vol.  xi,  October,  1816,  pp.  573-576,  published  in  London.  See  Auto- 
biography of  Francis  Adrian  van  der  Kemp,  edited  by  Helen  Lincklaen 
Fairchild. 


42  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

be  kept  a  profound  secret.  He  was  warmly  esteemed  by 
the  university  men  in  Cambridge  as  well  as  by  the 
clergy  in  Boston,  and  his  rare  appearance  in  Massachu- 
setts was  the  signal  for  visits  and  various  attentions 
from  Eliot,  Channing,  Dr.  Freeman,  Lowell,  Norton, 
and  others.  He  was  still  at  work  on  his  forty  volumes 
of  the  records  when  Harvard  conferred  on  him  in  1820 
the  degree  of  LL.  D. 

In  both  Mappa  and  van  der  Kemp,  Mr.  Huidekoper 
had  before  him  men  of  rich  experience  who  led  con- 
tented lives  far  from  the  noise  of  cities,  happy  in  a  fru- 
gal independence,  active  in  intellectual  enjoyment.  His 
own  ideal  of  the  sort  of  home  he  would  build  was  based 
upon  their  example ;  and  in  many  respects  his  maturer 
years  retained  an  impress  of  the  contact  with  these  men 
of  simplicity  and  strong  sincerity. 

Mappa,1  indeed,  was  rather  the  soldier  than  the  scholar. 
A  native  of  Delft,  he  gained,  it  is  said,  while  yet  a  young 
man,  distinction  for  his  courage  and  enterprise  as  an 
officer  in  the  Dutch  service ;  and  when  he  left  the  army 
he  entered  civic  life  as  a  type  founder.  He  married, 
after  a  long  probation  imposed  by  her  parents,  Anna 
Adriana  Paspoort,  a  woman  of  great  beauty  of  charac- 
ter, whom  Mr.  Huidekoper  always  referred  to  with  affec- 
tion and  reverence.  Mappa  was  ardently  a  Patriot,  and 
in  1786  had  become  one  of  the  leaders  of  that  party. 
He  commanded  the  armed  citizens  of  the  "  Vry  corps  " 
in  the  province  of  Holland.2  After  the  breaking  up  of 
the  Patriot  party  Mappa  spent  two  years  or  more  in 
France,  trying  to  effect  some  combination  of  French 
and  Dutch  interests  that  might  work  to  the  benefit  of 

1  See  Autobiography  of  Francis  Adrian  van  der  Kemp. 
1  Ibid.,  p.  143. 


THE  HOLLANDER  43 

his  people.1  Then,  this  hope  having  failed  him,  in  1789 
he  emigrated  with  his  wife  and  children  to  the  State  of 
New  York.  He  brought  with  him  to  New  York  his 
letter  foundry,  and  apparently  pursued  his  business  in 
the  city  for  several  years.  In  1795,  however,  he  removed 
to  Oldenbarneveld.  He  was,  at  the  first  town  meeting 
held  in  Oldenbarneveld,  elected  supervisor,  and  he  held 
a  prominent  place  in  the  regard  of  his  fellow  townsmen 
as  long  as  he  lived. 

The  settlement  at  Oldenbarneveld  had  been  begun  by 
Gerrit  Boon,  who  came  through  the  forest  from  Old 
Fort  Schuyler,  blazing  trees  by  the  way  until  he  reached 
the  site  which  he  decided  to  take  for  his  village.  It 
was  he  who  gave  to  his  town  the  name  of  the  Dutch 
reformer  and  martyr.  Tradition  says  that  Mr.  Boon 
founded  great  hopes  on  the  profit  which  he  expected  to 
reap  from  the  making  of  maple  sugar,  and  that  in  his 
sanguine  plans  he  proposed  to  tap  the  trees  all  the  year 
round.  It  would  be  interesting  to  know  whether  the 
worthy  gentlemen  of  the  Holland  Land  Company,  for 
whom  Mr.  Boon  was  acting,  hard-headed  Dutch  capital- 
ists, but  whom  Mr.  Huidekoper  nevertheless  speaks  of 
as  investing  in  sugar  lands  with  a  philanthropic  eye  to 
the  reduction  of  the  demand  for  slave-labor  among  the 
cane  brakes,  also  shared  Mr.  Boon's  delusion  as  to  the 
perpetual  flow  of  the  sap. 

One  more  Netherlander,  John  Lincklaen,2  should  be 
mentioned  here.  John  Lincklaen  was  born  in  Amster- 
dam December  24,  1768.  In  June,  1790,  he  came  to 
America  with  Gerrit  Boon,  sent  out  under  the  patron- 
age of  the  Holland  Land  Company,  with  letters  to  The- 

1  See  Autobiography  of  Francis  Adrian  van  der  Kemp,  p.  144. 

a  See  Journals  of  John  Lincklaen,  edited  by  Helen  Lincklaen  Fan-child. 


44  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

ophilus  Cazenove.  in  Philadelphia.  He  made  journeys  of 
inspection  in  the  interest  of  the  company,  and  in  1793 
was  appointed  agent  of  its  lands  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Cazenovia. 

The  autobiography  may  now  again  take  up  the  story ; 
in  it  Mr.  Huidekoper,  beginning  with  his  departure 
from  Albany,  continues :  — 

I  remained  in  New  York  four  or  five  days,  and  then 
set  out  for  Albany,  in  a  common  river  sloop,  the  only 
mode  of  conveyance  in  those  days.  This  was  to  me  a 
delightful  journey.  I  had  never  before  seen  either  a 
rock  or  a  mountain  ;  and  you  may  judge  how  I  was 
struck  with  the  rocky  scenery  along  the  Hudson  river, 
and  with  the  Highlands.  Luckily  I  had  a  good  oppor- 
tunity of  admiring  this  scenery  at  my  leisure,  for  we 
were  four  days  on  our  passage,  and  the  weather  was  fine. 
When  the  tide  was  in  our  favour,  we  sailed  slowly  up 
the  river ;  when  it  was  unfavourable,  we  came  to  anchor, 
and  then  I  went  ashore,  and  rambled  about  until  it  was 
time  to  sail  again.  From  Albany  I  pursued  my  journey 
westward  to  Utica,  then  called  Old  Fort  Schuyler,  by 
stage.  It  then  took  three  days  to  make  that  distance 
which  is  now  travelled  in  six  hours.  On  the  last  day  we 
broke  our  axletree  in  the  midst  of  a  wood,  and  here  I 
had  the  first  opportunity  of  admiring  American  inge- 
nuity. Coming  from  a  country  where  men  are  rendered 
helpless  by  a  rigid  adherence  to  a  subdivision  of  em- 
ployment, I  considered  our  accident  fatal  to  our  further 
progress,  for  I  thought  that  to  make  an  axletree  a  man 
must  be  a  professional  wagon  maker ;  and  I  was  there- 
fore not  a  little  surprised  to  see  our  driver,  with  no  other 
tools  than  an  ax,  and  perhaps  an  auger,  construct  in  a 
little  while  an  axletree  which  carried  us  safely  to  the  end 
of  our  journey.  A  little  incident,  connected  with  the 
foregoing,  has  frequently  made  me  smile.  I  will  men- 
tion it  here,  as  it  will  show  you  how  difficult  it  is  for  a 


THE  HOLLANDER  45 

European,  with  his  head  full  of  European  ideas,  to  judge 
correctly  of  matters  and  things  here.  To  mend  our 
Axletree  the  driver  cut  down  a  young  Sapling.  This 
I  looked  upon  as  a  trespass,  rendered  somewhat  excuse- 
able  by  our  condition.  But  when  I  saw  him  unceremoni- 
ously condemn  this  sapling  as  unfit  for  his  purpose,  and 
proceed  to  cut  down  another,  I  looked  upon  this  act  as 
a  wanton  waste  and  disregard  of  anothers  property. 

Fort  Schuyler  consisted  at  that  time  of  about  two 
dozen  of  houses  standing  on  leased  ground  belonging 
to  the  Bleecker  family  o£  Albany.  The  year  afterwards 
Mr.  Boon  purchased  some  of  the  ground  on  which  the 
City  of  Utica  now  stands  at  ten  dollars  the  Acre.  On 
the  day  following  my  arrival  at  Utica,  I  went  to  Olden- 
barneveld  to  deliver  the  letters  of  introduction  which 
my  Brother  had  given  me  for  Messrs.  Boon  and  Mappa. 
From  them,  and  from  the  family  of  the  latter,  I  met 
with  a  very  kind  reception,  and  as  they  were  all  dutch, 
living  in  the  dutch  manner,  and  constantly  speaking  the 
dutch  language,  I  felt  as  if  I  had  been  carried  back 
again  at  once  to  my  native  country. 

Gerrit  Boon,  one  of  the  Gentlemen  just  named,  was 
a  Hollander,  and  was  at  that  time  Agent  for  some  dutch 
Gentlemen  (essentially  the  same  with  those  known  to 
You  as  the  directors  of  the  Holland  Land  Company) 
who  held  about  ninety  thousand  acres  of  land  in  that 
neighborhood.  There  is  an  anecdote  connected  with  the 
origin  of  this  Agency,  which  is  not  generally  known. 
Some  dutch  Gentlemen,  misled  by  the  statement  of 
Brissot  de  Warville  and  others,  into  the  belief  that 
sugar  might  be  manufactured  from  the  maple  in  such 
quantities,  and  at  such  prices,  as  to  supercede  the  West 
india  Sugar,  and  that  thus  the  slavetrade  might  be 
greatly  curtailed,  resolved  to  make  the  experiment. 
They  accordingly  purchased  about  Twenty  three  thou- 
sand acres  of  land,  chiefly  covered  with  Sugar  Maple, 
and  sent  out  Mr.  Boon,  a  Sugar  refiner  by  profession, 
to  superintend  the  Manufacture.  It  is  almost  needless 


46  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

to  add  that  this  experiment  proved  a  total  failure,  and 
that,  after  expending  some  few  thousand  dollars  on  it, 
it  was  abandoned,  and  the  lands  Surveyed  into  small 
lots,  and  offered  for  sale  to  settlers. 

Mr.  Boon  was  a  Gentleman  of  great  personal  activity, 
and  of  considerable  force  of  mind,  but  totally  inexperi- 
enced in  the  Settlement  of  Wild  lands.  Hence,  instead 
of  placing  his  village  of  Oldeubarneveld,  (now  Trenton) 
at  the  falls  of  the  West  Canada  Creek,  he  placed  it  two 
Miles  farther  West,  on  a  small  tributary  stream,  and 
then  endeavored  to  create  there,  by  dint  of  expense,  a 
waterpower  far  inferior  to  what  nature  offered  him  on 
the  Canada  Creek.  The  attempt  proved  abortive.1 

I  remained  about  two  weeks  at  Oldenbarneveld,  and 
then  set  out  to  go  and  spend  the  winter  at  Casenovia. 
It  was  on  this  trip  that  I  got  initiated  for  the  first  time 
into  some  of  the  hardships  which  were  then  attendant 
on  travelling  in  a  new  Country.  My  route,  until  I  got 
to  within  Nine  Miles  of  Casenovia  was  along  the  Main 
Genessee  road,  and  that  road  run  for  18  or  19  Miles 
through  the  Oneida  reservation.  From  the  eastern  edge 
of  that  Reservation  to  Casenovia  was  a  distance  of  30 
Miles,  and  this  must  be  made  in  one  day,  as  there  was 
no  tolerable  intermediate  stopping  place.  I  left  the 
edge  of  the  reservation  in  Company  with  four  other 
travellers,  at  early  daybreak.  The  ground  was  slightly 
covered  with  snow,  and  the  roads  very  deep  and  muddy. 
At  half  after  three  in  the  afternoon  we  reached  Cana- 

1  The  order  of  the  autobiography  has  been  slightly  changed  at  this 
point  and  elsewhere,  to  suit  the  exigencies  of  the  narrative.  No  portions 
of  it  have  been  omitted,  however.  Its  capitalization,  punctuation,  and 
spelling  are  intended  to  be  Mr.  Huidekoper's  own.  In  the  extracts  from 
his  letters  capitalization  and  punctuation  have  been  modernized,  but  the 
spelling  and  the  literal  transcription,  in  most  instances,  have  been  pre- 
served. The  very  few  and  unimportant  departures  from  this  rule  are 
occasioned  by  the  fact  that  a  number  of  the  letters  were  hasty  copies 
taken  off  in  a  letter-book,  sometimes  by  the  hand  of  a  clerk;  and  a  num- 
ber were  copies  made  at  a  later  day,  by  other  persons,  whose  possible 
slips  it  was  not  desirable  to  perpetuate. 


THE  HOLLANDER  47 

serago,  an  Indian  Village  distant  18  Miles,  and  here  we 
got  something  to  eat  for  our  horses.  From  here  I  pur- 
sued my  way  alone.  The  sun  was  setting  as  I  turned 
off  from  the  Genesee  road,  My  horse  became  uneasy, 
and  had  to  be  led,  and  thus,  some  times  riding,  some- 
times Walking,  I  reached  Casenovia  at  Nine  o'clock  in 
the  evening.  At  half  after  Nine  I  got  my  breakfast. 

At  Casenovia  I  spent  the  Winter  with  Mr.  Henry  de 
Clercq,  a  Young  Hollander,  a  Cousin  of  my  Brother's 
wife,  who  had  come  to  the  United  States  with  my 
Brother  about  three  Years  before,  and  who  had  settled 
near  Casenovia  as  a  farmer.  My  object  in  the  selection 
of  this  residence  was  to  make  my  self  practically  ac- 
quainted with  farming,  for  I  too  had  left  Holland  with 
the  intention  of  becoming  a  farmer  in  America.  I  have 
since  often  smiled  at  the  erroneous  idea,  which  I,  as 
well  as  numerous  other  Europeans,  entertained  on  this 
subject.  In  Europe,  the  man  who  owns  a  hundred  acres 
of  good  land  is  rich,  and  can  draw  from  it  more  than  a 
competency  with  little  more  labour  than  that  of  super- 
intending the  cultivation  of  it.  Now  Europeans  are  apt 
to  connect  the  same  ideas  with  the  possession  of  land 
in  this  Country ;  and  as  they  hear  that  very  good  land 
is  to  be  had  here  at  from  two  to  four  dollars  per  acre, 
they  are  led  to  believe  that  it  requires  but  a  few  hundred 
dollars  to  make  a  man  independent  for  life.  I  need  not 
add  that  when  I  saw  my  friend  de  Clercq's  farm  covered 
with  stumps,  it  did  not  exactly  realize  the  beau  ideal 
which  I  had  formed  to  myself  of  a  territorial  possession ; 
and  when  I  learned  afterwards  that  it  had  taken  about 
$4,000  to  make  his  farm  what  it  was,  I  became  sensible, 
that  I  was  not  rich  enough  to  become  a  farmer. 

I  spent  the  winter  of  1796-7  with  Mr.  de  Clercq. 
He  was  then  unmarried,  and  lived  in  a  small  log-cabin. 
His  family,  consisted  of  himself,  a  hired  man,  a  boy  and 
a  housekeeper.  The  latter  went  frequently  on  a  visit  to 
her  parents,  and  would  be  absent  for  a  week  or  two, 
leaving  us  to  get  along  as  we  could ;  and  I  have  fre- 


48  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

quently  laughed  at  the  style  in  which  we  kept  batchelor's 
Hall. 

Mr.  Lincklaen,  who  was  Agent  for  the  Holland  Land 
Company,  of  some  lands  which  they  possessed  in  that 
quarter,  asked  me  to  aid  his  Clerk  until  one,  whom  he 
expected,  should  arrive.  With  him  I  spent  part  of  the 
summer  of  1797,1  and  in  the  fall  of  that  year  I  returned 
to  Oldenbarneveld,  where  I  remained  until  the  Month 
of  february,  1802,  when  I  removed  to  Philadelphia. 

Everything  that  Mr.  Huidekoper  saw  in  these  first 
years  made  a  vivid  impression  upon  his  observant  mind, 
from  his  first  rattlesnake,  "  four  feet  nine  inches  long, 
and  as  thick  as  a  man's  leg,"  to  the  maize,  which  he 
writes  to  his  parents  "  is  much  grown  here,"  and  is  the 
same  plant  which  they  have  seen  in  the  gardens  in  Hol- 
land under  the  name  of  "  Turkish  wheat."  "  It  grows," 
he  tells  them,  "  much  larger  and  heavier  here.  They  use 
it  for  fodder,  for  hogs  and  oxen,  and  even  the  people 
eat  it  here  somewhat,  but  it  seems  to  me  that  it  is  not 
nearly  so  nutritious  as  wheat  or  rye.  This  latter  is  not 
grown  here,  and  those  of  the  inhabitants  who  have  eaten 
rye  bread  in  the  Eastern  states  of  this  republic  do  not 
seem  to  care  for  it  very  much,  and  prefer  maize  and 
wheat  bread." 

In  another  letter  written  to  them  from  Oldenbarne- 
veld, October  24,  1797,  he  says  :  — 

I  have  passed  a  portion  of  the  time  during  the  past 
two  months  making  little  journeys  from  here  with 

1  A  letter  to  his  parents,  of  March  1,  1797,  says  :  "  Mr.  Lincklaen  was 
married  last  week,  and  on  that  occasion  I  have  made  the  acquaintance  of 
Mr.  van  der  Kemp.  This  gentleman  was  previous  to  the  year  '87  pastor 
in  one  of  the  Dutch  cities,  and  left  the  country  after  the  revolution.  He 
was  quite  closely  connected  with  the  Frisian  branch  of  the  family,  par- 
ticularly with  Uncle  Huidekoper,  and  you  would  please  him  by  sending 
them  his  compliments  when  you  write  to  them." 


THE  HOLLANDER  49 

Messrs.  Mappa  and  van  der  Kemp.  You  will  have  seen 
from  my  preceding  letter  that  I  intended  to  leave  Caze- 
novia  and  to  pass  the  winter  here.  I  arrived  here  the 
last  of  the  month  of  August,  and  thereupon  a  few  days 
later  went  on  a  trip  with  Mr.  Mappa  to  the  Settlement 
of  Kortenaer,  which  lies  eighteen  miles  from  here,  and 
belongs  to  the  same  company  which  are  the  owners  of 
this  settlement,  namely,  Messrs.  Van  Staphorst,  Stad- 
nitzki,  Schimmelpenninck,  Van  Eeghen,  etc.  This 
settlement  lies  on  the  Black  River,  which  is  not  naviga- 
ble, by  reason  of  the  terrible  falls  and  rocks  which  are 
in  it.  We  stayed  here  for  some  time,  as  Mr.  Mappa 
had  some  business  at  this  place,  and  after  seeing  every- 
thing of  interest  we  finally  returned.  On  our  journey 
back  we  were  overtaken  by  a  storm,  accompanied  by 
such  a  heavy  rain  that  we  were  wet  through  before  we 
could  reach  a  house.  This  made  riding  disagreeable, 
and  all  the  more,  as  the  road  being  low  and  muddy, 
they  had  laid  out  some  sixty  causeways  in  it,  of  which 
some  are  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  mile  in  length.  A 
causeway  is  a  sort  of  bridge  which  is  made  by  laying 
trees  side  by  side,  and  you  can  easily  understand  that 
when  the  rain  has  made  these  trees  slippery  travelling 
over  them  is  far  from  agreeable.  Some  time  after  that 
I  went  with  Mr.  van  der  Kemp  to  his  place,  known  as 
Kempwyk,  which  lies  on  the  Oneida  Lake.  The  road 
there  is  via  Fort  Stanwix,  now  called  Rome,  a  place 
where  four  years  ago  there  was  only  one  house,  but 
where  there  are  now  several  of  two  stories,  and  even 
some  of  three  stories,  together  with  a  number  of  smaller 
buildings.  I  saw  the  canal  here,  which  was  dug  awhile 
ago  to  promote  navigation  to  the  West.  This  was  laid 
out  with  much  skill,  and  it  afforded  me  much  pleasure, 
as  in  this  country,  where  everything  is  in  its  natural 
rough  condition,  there  are  very  few  such  things  to  be 
seen.  The  Oneida  Lake  is  twenty  miles  long,  and  from 
six  to  seven  miles  broad.  The  land  in  that  neighborhood 
is  not  so  good  as  the  land  here,  and  further  during  a 


50  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

portion  of  the  year  it  is  unhealthy.  The  exhalations 
from  the  marshes  and  stagnant  water  cause  a  fever 
among  the  inhabitants,  which  I  think  has  a  good  deal 
of  similarity  to  the  Zealand  fever.  These  two  reasons, 
and  the  bad  management  of  the  owners  of  the  lands, 
are  the  causes  that  the  settlement  there,  which  is  called 
Rotterdam,  does  not  increase  very  much. 

About  two  years  after  my  arrival  at  Oldenbarneveld 
[he  continues,  in  the  autobiography],  Mr.  Boon  returned 
to  Europe,  and  was  succeeded  in  the  Agency  by  Col. 
Mappa.  This  was  a  dutch  exile,  who,  in  the  struggle 
against  the  House  of  Orange  in  1786  and  1787,  had 
commanded  a  body  of  patriot  troops,  and  who,  after  the 
revolution  of  1787,  had  expatriated  himself,  and  had 
emigrated,  first  to  France,  and  afterward  to  the  United 
States.  He  was  a  man  of  a  very  hospitable  benevolent 
and  kind  disposition. 

During  my  residence  at  Casenovia  the  dutch  Society 
at  Oldenbarneveld  had  been  increased  by  the  removal 
thither  of  Mr.  afterwards  Doctor  Van  der  Kemp  and 
his  family  ;  and  was  at  this  time  full  of  attraction,  par- 
ticularly to  a  Young  Hollander  still  partial  to  the  lan- 
guage and  customs  of  his  native  Country.  Messrs.  Boon 
and  Mappa  I  have  already  mentioned.  Dr.  Van  der 
Kemp  was,  like  the  latter,  a  dutch  exile.  His  life  was 
devoted  to  study,  and  he  was  one  of  the  best  read  Schol- 
ars which  I  have  ever  met  with.  Mrs.  Mappa  and  Mrs. 
van  der  Kemp  belonged  to  the  really  excellent  of  this 
earth.  To  both  I  am  indebted  for  a  thousand  acts  of 
kindness,  particularly  to  the  former,  who  was  as  a 
Mother  to  me  during  my  residence  at  Oldenbarneveld.1 

1  "  Oldenbarneveld  is  a  very  pleasant  little  place,"  Mr.  Huidekoper 
wrote  (August  9,  1797)  to  his  parents,  "  and  it  is  much  more  agreeable 
for  me  because  there  are  so  many  Hollanders  there.  These  are  Mr.  Boon, 
manager  of  the  settlement,  Messrs.  Mappa  and  van  der  Kemp,  with  their 
families,  both  of  whom  fled  from  Holland  because  of  the  revolution  of 
'87,  Mr.  Zaun,  brother-in-law  of  Mr.  Mappa,  and  Mr.  Smits  ;  —  in  all, 


THE  HOLLANDER  51 

For  the  first  two  Years  I  lived  in  comparative  idle- 
ness. It  is  true  that  I  made  myself  occasionally  useful 
in  making  some  excursion  for  the  Agency,  or  in  assist- 
ing my  friends  in  a  store  connected  with  it,  but  I  had 
no  regular  employment,  and  the  few  feeble  efforts  I 
made  to  get  into  business,  proved  abortive,  because  I 
relied  on  others,  and  had  not  yet  learned  to  rely  on  my 
own  exertions.  At  the  end  of  this  time,  a  Mr.  Smits, 
a  dutch  Clerk  in  the  employ  of  Mr.  Mappa,  determined 
on  returning  to  Holland.  This  Clerkship  was  offered 
to  me  and  accepted ;  and  here  commenced  that  con- 
nection with  the  Holland  Land  Company,  and  with  the 
land  business,  in  which  the  whole  of  my  subsequent 
life  has  been  spent. 

The  obtaining  this  Clerkship,  to  which  a  salary  of 
).  a  Year,  besides  board  and  lodging,  was  attached, 
formed  an  important  era  in  my  life.  I  was  now,  not 
only  earning  my  own  living,  but,  with  the  rigid  eco- 
nomy which  I  prescribed  to  myself,  I  was  enabled  to  lay 
by  the  largest  part  of  my  salary,  to  gratify  the  first 
wish  of  my  heart,  that  of  being  useful  to  my  parents. 
My  Father  died  before  I  had  the  means  of  giving  effect 
to  this  wish ;  but  I  had  the  happiness  subsequently  to 
be  useful  to  my  Mother  and  to  My  unmarried  Sister. 

I  have  always  looked  back  with  pleasure  to  the  latter 
Years  of  my  residence  at  Oldenbarneveld  with  pleasure, 
because  that  was  a  happy  portion  of  my  life.  I  had  now 
a  competency,  and  lived  without  care.  My  labours  were 
light  and  of  a  pleasant  kind.  My  amusements  were  sim- 
ple, consisting  chiefly  in  hunting,  or  fishing  for  trout ; 
and  I  enjoyed  the  society  of  excellent  worthy  friends 
to  whom  I  was  sincerely  attached,  and  by  whom  I  was 
beloved  in  return  ;  so  that,  when  I  left  Oldenbarneveld, 
it  was  like  parting  again  from  my  family  and  My 
home. 

fifteen  persons.  Furthermore  quite  a  number  of  the  inhabitants  speak 
Dutch,  although  somewhat  like  the  farmers  in  Overyssel  and  Drenthe, 
and  mingled  with  a  few  English  words." 


52  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

His  life  with  the  kindly  Hollanders  of  Oldenbarneveld 
was  indeed  a  very  happy  one.  Mrs.  Mappa  was  one  of 
the  warmest  friends  he  ever  made,  and  continued  to 
write  to  him  while  she  could  hold  a  pen.  When  age 
and  illness  made  this  impossible,  her  daughter  took 
up  the  correspondence,  and  wrote  at  intervals  for  a 
number  of  years,  never  losing  her  affectionate  regard 
for  him.1 

In  the  growth  of  Oldenbarneveld  he  took  great  pride, 
and  reported  in  the  winter  of  1798  :  "  This  settlement 
has  never  been  more  lively  than  at  present ;  every  day 
about  twenty  sleighs  come  laden  with  goods  from  Fort 
Schuyler,  and  they  generally  go  back  the  same  day 
laden  with  lime,  which  is  burnt  here.  In  addition,  there 
are  about  fifteen  or  sixteen  sleds  engaged  daily  in  haul- 
ing stone  from  a  stone  quarry  which  is  about  a  mile  from 
Mr.  Boon's.  These  stones  are  to  be  used  to  build  a  new 
corn  mill  and  brewery  which  Mr.  Mappa  is  to  build." 

Meanwhile  his  letters  evinced  his  intelligent  apprecia- 
tion of  Holland's  vicissitudes,  and  an  undiminished 
affection  for  his  family  and  friends. 

[January  15,  1798.]  I  have  seen  from  the  papers 
the  unfortunate  defeat  of  the  Dutch  fleet  under  de 
Winter.  I  am  sincerely  sorry  at  the  loss  of  so  many 
brave  men  who  were  there  killed  or  captured,  all  the 
more  that  it  is  so  difficult  to  secure  experienced  seamen. 
All  the  consolation  we  can  find  in  the  entire  affair  is 
that  our  seamen  have  borne  themselves  so  bravely,  and 

1  When  Mr.  Huidekoper's  son  Alfred  in  later  years  paid  Miss  Mappa  a 
visit,  her  interest  in  her  old  acquaintance  was  as  cordial  as  ever.  "  I  deliv- 
ered," Alfred  Huidekoper  said,  in  writing  to  his  sister,  "  my  father's  letter 
to  Miss  Mappa,  for  which  I  got  six  kisses  and  one  hundred  and  twenty  (or 
less)  shakings  of  the  hand."  She  also  took  delight  in  showing  him  the 
garden  where  Lis  father  had  walked,  and  the  trees  which  he  had  planted. 


THE  HOLLANDER  63 

that  the  English,  although  the  victors,  will  long  think 
of  de  Winter  and  his  men. 

[April  3,  1799.]  When  you  write  to  me,  you  cannot 
go  too  much  into  particulars ;  those  matters  which  others 
may  regard  as  mere  bagatelles  interest  me.  Give  my  re- 
gards to  all  my  acquaintances,  and  especially  to  the 
Carstens,  Hiddingh,  Ravallet,  etc.  I  embrace  you,  and 
my  brother  and  sister. 

[August  13, 1799.]  Your  position  cannot  be  very  plea- 
sant now  that  the  war  is  on.  It  would  give  me  pleasure 
if  you  would  write  me  particularly  regarding  the  situa- 
tion in  your  district,  how  the  arming  of  the  citizens 
progresses,  who  are  now  their  officers,  who  are  the  mem- 
bers of  the  municipal  government,  and  who  are  now  at 
Assen  as  members  of  the  Provincial  administration.  .  .  . 
How  is  brother  Piet  getting  on  with  his  studies  ?  Who 
is  teaching  him  now,  and  what  is  the  plan  that  you  ex- 
pect to  follow  with  him  ?  Write  me  everything,  for  I 
am  most  sincerely  interested  in  all  that  regards  you  and 
the  others  of  my  family,  and  all  my  good  friends.  I  have 
not  heard  anything  as  yet  from  the  family  in  Friesland. 
Let  me  know  how  they  are,  and  if  any  of  them,  and 
who,  are  in  the  political  government  of  that  former  pro- 
vince. 

[October  16, 1799.]  l  I  am  sorry  to  see  that  the  some- 
what long  delay  in  receiving  one  of  my  letters  has  made 
sister  somewhat  anxious.  May  I  ask  you,  sister  dear,  not 
to  worry  so  easily  over  me.  My  occupations  may  some- 
times prevent  me  from  writing,  and  what  is  more,  with 
this  war  possibly  a  third  of  my  letters  go  astray.  ...  I 
have  seen  with  pleasure  from  brother  Jan's  letter  that 
Pierre  intends  to  go  into  the  army.  This  is  certainly 
one  of  the  most  glorious  careers  that  a  man  can  achieve. 
I  hope  that  you  may  find  good  fortune  and  enjoyment 
in  it. 

[March  29,  1801.]  2    Your  agreeable  letter  of  the 

1  To  his  brother  and  sister. 

2  To  his  mother.   His  father  died  in  1799. 


54  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

1st  of  September  has  been  duly  received  by  me,  and 
with  the  greatest  joy  I  learned  that  you  were  all  well, 
especially  as  I  had  begun  to  be  uneasy,  as  I  had  not 
received  any  news  from  you  for  a  year.  You  will  see  from 
this  that  your  letters  which  were  sent  in  May,  1800,  have 
been  lost  on  the  way ;  for  which  I  am  extremely  sorry, 
as  they  would  have  been  highly  interesting  to  me,  con- 
taining as  they  did  a  number  of  answers  to  questions 
which  I  had  put  to  you  and  the  others  of  the  family  at 
Hoogeveen.  As  I  have  but  little  time  now,  I  will  reply 
to  your  letter  and  that  of  my  dear  brother  and  sister  in 
one. 

I  continue  to  take  the  same  cordial  interest  in  the 
prosperity  of  you  all,  and  if  I  wish  to  see  my  own  circum- 
stances a  little  more  easy,  it  is  principally  that  I  would 
like  to  give  you  all  convincing  proofs  of  my  affection 
for  you.  I  hope  in  the  meantime  that  the  Posserveld 
Veen  [peatfield]  can  be  sold  to  advantage,  and  that 
this  will  help  you  for  some  time.  I  am  sorry,  as  well 
as  you,  that  my  dear  Piet  has  as  yet  no  prospects  of 
making  a  living.  What  has  become  of  the  plan  to  enter 
the  military  service?  The  bravery  of  the  Dutch  troops 
makes  this  now  a  desirable  calling.  Perhaps  Jan  can 
help  him  in  this,  in  some  way  or  other.  I  advise  him 
strongly  to  go  in  everything  to  his  brother  Jan  for  ad- 
vice, and  to  follow  it.  Should  my  circumstances  change 
favorably,  he  can  always  make  claim  on  my  friendship, 
and  if  I  ever  get  where  I  can  be  of  service  to  him  here 
or  in  Europe  it  will  be  my  greatest  pleasure  to  help 
him  with  every  means  in  my  power.  His  good  con- 
duct gives  me  the  greatest  pleasure,  and  he  should  be 
convinced  that  one  can  never  be  unhappy,  as  long 
as  he  can  say  to  himself  that  he  has  not  deserved  mis- 
fortune. That  uncle  Ketel  does  nothing  for  him,  after 
what  he  had  promised,  is  exceedingly  unfair.  I  beg 
my  dear  Piet,  in  the  meantime,  not  to  become  discour- 
aged, but  to  use  all  his  efforts,  in  an  honorable  manner, 
to  obtain  for  himself  in  some  way  or  other  an  honor- 


THE  HOLLANDER  56 

able  livelihood.  This  is  certainly  preferable  to  a  depen- 
dence on  uncles  or  aunts.  Nothing  is  above  indepen- 
dence, and  no  calling  is  low  which  is  not  dishonorable, 
and  through  which  one  can  obtain  for  himself  a  decent 
living. 


CHAPTER  H 

IN  THE  PENNSYLVANIA  INTERIOR 

MB.  HUIDEKOPER  continues  in  the  autobiography  :  — 

Mr.  Smits,  My  predecessor  at  Oldenbarneveld,  re- 
turned to  the  United  States  about  the  Year  1801  to 
become  the  bookkeeper  of  Mr.  Busti,1  the  Agent  General 
of  the  Holland  Land  Company.  In  the  beginning  of 
the  Year  1802,  Mr.  Smits  died,  and  Mr.  Busti  then 
invited  me  to  become  a  second  time  Mr.  Smits'  succes- 
sor. As  to  this  situation  there  was  attached  a  Salary 
of  $1200  the  offer  was  too  advantageous  to  be  refused. 
I  therefore  accepted  it,  and  removed  to  Philadelphia  in 
the  beginning  of  february,  1802. 

Here  again  I  found  myself  pleasantly  situated.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Busti  were  both  of  them  Worthy,  kind,  amia- 
ble and  Well  informed.2  My  fellow  Clerk,  Mr.  Def  ranee, 
was  a  kindhearted  obliging  Young  Frenchman.  My 
labour  was  easy,  seldom  occupying  more  than  the  fore- 
noon. My  income,  which  was  already  ample,  was  in- 
creased $200  a  Year,  by  my  being  appointed  Secretary 
and  Bookkeeper  of  the  Pennsylvania  Population  Com- 
pany ;  and  some  time  afterwards  I  received  a  mark  of 
the  Confidence  reposed  in  me  by  the  Holland  Land 

1  Paul  Busti,  a  native  of  Milan,  Italy,  and  his  wife,  Elizabeth  May,  born 
in  Holland,  daughter  of  Admiral  May  of  the  British  navy,  came  to  Phila- 
delphia in  1794.   In  1799  he  became  the  general  agent  of  the  Holland 
Land  Company,  a  position  which  he  held  until  his  death,  iu  1824. 

2  Mr.  Huidekoper  found  in  Mr.  Busti  a  person  of  extreme  exactness  in 
business  methods,  with  whom  a  young  man  could  not  fail  to  receive  the 
most  careful  training.    He  became  an  inmate  of  Mr.  Busti's  home  as  well 
as  of  his  office,  and  made  pleasant  friends  in  Philadelphia,  as  he  did 
wherever  he  went. 


IN  THE  PENNSYLVANIA  INTERIOR  67 

Company,  by  being  designated  as  the  successor  of  Mr. 
Busti  in  the  general  Agency. 

My  residence  in  Philadelphia  was  of  service  to  me,  not 
only  in  a  pecuniary  point  of  view,  but  also  as,  by  bring- 
ing me  in  contact  with  the  world,  it  served  to  enlarge 
my  ideas,  and  to  improve  my  manners,  which  latter, 
from  my  having  almost  constantly  resided  in  the  Coun- 
try, had  never  been  sufficiently  attended  to.  But  though 
I  thus  endeavoured  to  acquire  the  manners,  and  to  con- 
form to  the  customs  of  the  New  World  into  which  I  had 
been  translated,  I  always  retained  my  former  predilec- 
tions for  the  simple  pleasures  of  life,  and  I  was  thus 
preserved  from  those  dissipations  which  are  but  too 
common  in  large  Cities. 

During  the  first  Year  of  my  residence  in  Philadelphia, 
an  opportunity  offered  itself  of  gratifying  my  love  of 
travelling,  and  I  embraced  it  with  eagerness.  Major 
Roger  Alden,  who  was  at  that  time  the  Holland  Com- 
pany's Agent  for  their  lands  west  of  the  Allegheny 
river,  was  no  accomptant  himself ;  and  having  an  equally 
incompetent  Clerk,  his  accounts  had  become  confused. 
It  became  therefore  necessary  that  either  the  Major 
should  come  to  Philadelphia  with  his  books  and  papers, 
or  that  someone  should  go  to  Meadville  to  adjust  his 
accounts.  The  latter  was  preferred,  and  I  was  desig- 
nated to  perform  that  task.  I  accordingly  left  Phila- 
delphia on  horseback  (then  the  only  mode  of  travelling 
in  the  interior)  some  time  in  July,  in  company  with 
Mr.  Jabes  Colt,  who  was  at  that  time  the  Agent  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Population  Company  for  their  lands  in 
Crawford  County.  From  Philadelphia  to  Strasburgh,  at 
the  eastern  foot  of  the  Mountains,  the  country  was, 
comparatively,  tolerably  weh1  settled,  but  from  thence 
to  Greensburgh  on  the  west  side  of  the  Mountains  all 
was  wilderness,  intersperced  here  and  there  either  with 
small  villages,  such  as  Fannetsburgh,  Bedford,  Stoys- 
town,  &c.,  or  with  solitary  stations  for  the  accommodation 
of  travellers.  The  roads  across  the  Mountains  were  then 


58  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

steep,  and,  to  my  unpractised  eye,  they  appeared  to  be 
totally  impracticable  for  wheel  carriages,  having  much 
the  appearance  of  the  dry  bed  of  mountain  torrents,  an 
aggregate  of  rubble  stones,  from  which  every  particle 
of  earth  was  washed  away.  Road  wagons,  with  light 
loads  of  Merchandise  had  however  then  for  some  time 
been  in  the  habit  of  crossing  the  Mountains. 

I  found  Pittsburgh  a  very  inconsiderable  town,  hav- 
ing little  to  recommend  it  except  its  scite.  It  presented 
however  a  Spectacle  which  so  far  in  land  was  really  a 
novel  one.  In  the  Monongahela  river  I  saw  two  or  three 
square  rigged  vessels  intended  for  the  navigation  of 
the  Ocean.  Two  frenchmen  of  the  name  of  Terrascon, 
residing  in  Philadelphia,  had  established  a  shipyard  at 
Pittsburgh.  As  You  may  suppose,  the  scheme  did  not 
succeed,  and  was  shortly  afterward  abandoned. 

From  Pittsburgh  to  Franklin  a  road  had  been  opened 
at  the  expense  of  the  State,  along  which  there  were  a 
few  scattering  settlements.  From  Franklin  to  Meadville 
there  was  only  a  horse  path,  running  nearly  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  present  Creek  road. 

Meadville  was  in  1802  a  small  village,  containing  25 
or  30  houses,  chiefly  log  ones ;  and  a  population  of 
about  150  inhabitants.  The  Country  around  it  was 
chiefly  in  a  State  of  Nature. 

I  remained  at  Meadville  about  four  Weeks,  and  then 
returned  to  Philadelphia  by  the  way  of  Buffalo,  Albany, 
and  New  York,  paying  a  visit  to  the  Falls  of  Niagara 
and  to  my  friends  at  Oldenbarneveld  by  the  way.  The 
Settlements  on  the  Holland  Company  lands  in  the  Gen- 
esee  Country  were  then  in  their  infancy.  From  the 
Pennsylvania  line  to  Buffalo  there  were  but  three  small 
cabins,  two  near  Westfield,  and  one  on  the  Cataraugus 
Creek,  and  Buffalo  itself  contained  perhaps  a  dozen  and 
a  half  of  log  cabins.  I  returned  to  Philadelphia  about 
the  beginning  of  October,  and  I  felt  that  for  once  I  had 
rode  enough. 


IN  THE  PENNSYLVANIA  INTERIOR  69 

This  journey  to  Meadville,  to  attend  to  the  Company's 
interests  there,  little  as  he  then  anticipated  its  bearings 
upon  his  future,  was  but  a  preliminary  step  toward  tak- 
ing the  entire  Western  Pennsylvania  agency  upon  his 
shoulders.  His  travels  are  described  by  him  at  far  greater 
length  in  a  careful  memorandum  prepared  at  the  time 
for  future  reference,  a  paper  full  of  general  interest  to 
the  student  of  our  early  history,  and  containing  much 
of  Mr.  Huidekoper's  own  point  of  view  as  well  as  his 
first  impressions  of  the  interior.  The  original  was  writ- 
ten in  French,  which  indicated  that  it  was  meant,  in 
part,  for  Mr.  Busti's  perusal,  —  Mr.  Busti  being  more 
familiar  with  French  than  with  English.  It  has  been 
translated  1  as  follows  :  — 

On  Tuesday  the  21st.  of  July  [1802]  I  started  on 
my  journey  from  Philadelphia  to  Meadville. 

Although  the  lack  of  freedom  inseparable  from  life 
in  great  cities  makes  my  stay  therein  wearisome  to  me, 
yet  the  kindness  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Busti  during  my  five 
months  residence  in  Philadelphia  had  so  sweetened  my 
life  that  it  was  not  without  regret  that  I  left  them  to 
undertake  a  journey  which  had  long  tempted  me  and 
which,  besides  satisfying  my  curiosity,  promised,  at  least 
for  a  time,  to  give  me  the  pleasures  of  a  country  lif e, 
which  during  the  five  previous  years  I  had  enjoyed. 

Preparations  for  leaving  delayed  my  departure  from 
hour  to  hour,  and  it  was  only  towards  six  o'clock  in  the 
evening  that  I  was  fairly  oft'.  The  great  heat  induced 
me  also  to  choose  this  late  hour  for  leaving  (having  only 
finished  my  work  in  the  morning),  for  I  would  advise 
no  one  to  travel  in  the  middle  of  the  day  at  this  season, 
in  a  climate  as  hot  as  that  of  Pennsylvania  unless  abso- 
lutely obliged  to  do  so. 

I  only  rode  eight  miles  this  first  day,  following  the 

1  By  Mrs.  Cortazzo. 


60  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

turnpike  which  leads  from  Philadelphia  to  Lancaster. 
Although  the  land  along  the  road  I  traversed  to-day  is 
of  indifferent  quality,  it  is  fairly  well  cultivated  except 
near  Philadelphia,  where  it  is  left  fallow  after  much 
use.  I  am  surprised  that  they  do  not  plant  this  land 
with  trees,  not  only  because  wood  gives  a  good  return 
and  increases  in  value  in  the  neighbourhood  of  a  large 
city,  but  because  it  would  give  back  to  the  soil  much  of 
its  productiveness.  It  is  to  the  enriching  of  its  soil  by 
its  forests  that  America  owes  much  of  its  fertility,  for 
generally  speaking  it  is  not  naturally  any  richer  than 
land  in  Europe,  only  newer  and  less  exhausted. 

The  22nd.  I  started  at  five  A.  M.,  and  at  eleven  reached 
Downingstown,  which  is  thirty  miles  from  Philadelphia. 
The  heat  was  intense,  and  as  I  feared  to  exhaust  my 
horse  I  stopped  for  some  hours  until  the  sun  should 
be  less  powerful.  The  land  passed  seemed  to  me  very 
indifferent,  and  here  and  there  I  saw  fields  which  had 
been  abandoned.  The  part  still  cultivated  had  been 
enriched  with  plaster  of  Paris,-  which,  though  it  is  not 
as  good  as  manure,  they  use  here  for  fertilizing.  It 
differs  from  manure  in  that  one  can  fertilize  the  ground 
several  successive  years,  and  is  advantageous  because 
one  can  raise  several  crops,  especially  hay  or  grass 
whereby  the  farmer  can  feed  more  cattle  and  eventually 
obtain  enough  manure.  Most  of  the  settlers  in  this  part 
are  of  German  origin,  who  retain  the  language  and 
customs  of  their  ancestors.  Less  enterprising  than  the 
New  Englanders,  they  are  more  frugal,  and  in  spite  of 
the  poorness  of  the  soil  they  seemed  to  be  generally  in 
easy  circumstances. 

Downingstown  is  the  only  village  worthy  the  name 
as  far  as  Lancaster.  I  should  have  found  it  dull,  in 
spite  of  this  distinction,  if  I  had  not  met  a  man  from 
New  England  who  lives  in  Genesee  and  who  could  give 
me  information  about  the  navigation  of  the  Susque- 
hanna,  having  traded  by  that  stream.  He  said  that 
traffic  is  carried  on  by  means  of  boats  which  are  a  cross 


IN  THE  PENNSYLVANIA  INTERIOR  61 

between  a  boat  and  a  raft,  carrying  twenty  or  thirty 
tons.  Last  year  all  merchandise  went  to  Baltimore, 
where  the  merchants  gave  a  little  extra  price,  to  en- 
courage trade.  This  year  however  the  Baltimore  mar- 
ket is  lower  than  Philadelphia,  and  traders  from  Genesee 
unloaded  their  boats  near  Lancaster  and  sent  their  mer- 
chandise by  land  to  Philadelphia.  In  this  way  they 
avoided  the  most  dangerous  part  of  the  navigation  of 
the  Susquehanna.  The  man  who  told  me  this  said  that 
last  year  out  of  seven  rafts  which  came  down  the  river, 
three  had  been  wrecked,  one  entirely  lost,  and  the  other 
two  lost  part  of  their  cargo.  The  rates  from  Genesee  to 
Baltimore  are  $1.50  per  barrel  of  flour;  the  rates  to 
Philadelphia  would  be  $2.00  because  of  the  land  car- 
riage. 

At  four  o'clock  I  started  again,  and  crossing  the 
Brandywine  Creek,  famous  for  the  battle  which  Wash- 
ington lost  in  its  vicinity,  I  arrived  towards  evening 
forty-eight  miles  from  Philadelphia,  very  tired  on  ac- 
count of  the  intense  heat.  The  soil  becomes  better  as 
one  nears  Lancaster,  and  is  very  fertile  and  well  culti- 
vated in  the  vicinity  of  that  town,  which  I  reached  on 
the  morning  of  the  23rd. 

The  town  of  Lancaster,  which  is  the  seat  of  the 
Legislature  of  Pennsylvania  when  it  is  in  session,  is  sit- 
uated sixty-two  or  sixty-three  miles  from  Philadelphia, 
in  a  valley  surrounded  on  three  sides  by  higher  ground 
than  that  on  which  the  town  stands,  which  does  not  add 
to  its  beauty,  and  the  streets  are  ill-paved  and  very  dirty. 
It  owes  the  undesirability  of  its  site  to  one  of  the  Pro- 
vincial Governors  under  the  British  regime,  who,  own- 
ing much  property  in  this  quarter,  laid  it  out  in  town 
lots.  The  town  is  of  considerable  size,  and  according 
to  one  of  its  citizens,  who  was  my  informant,  has  a  pop- 
ulation of  about  nine  thousand.  I  cannot  answer  for 
the  accuracy  of  this,  and  am  tempted  to  suspect  that,  as 
men  often  think  they  add  to  their  own  importance  by 
exaggerating  the  importance  of  their  place  of  residence, 


62  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

the  good  man  had  done  this.  However  the  size  of  the 
place  rather  astonished  me,  for  I  could  not  see  what  had 
attracted  so  many  persons  to  a  spot  so  utterly  lacking 
in  those  natural  advantages  which  in  this  country  often 
cause  very  rapid  growth  in  towns.  From  what  I  could 
gather,  Lancaster  has  very  little  trade  and  the  products 
of  the  interior  only  pass  through  it.  The  inhabitants 
are  largely  German,  or  descendants  of  Germans,  as  one 
sees  at  a  glance,  for  the  houses  are  built  in  the  peculiar 
style  common  in  Germany,  half  stone  or  brick,  half 
wood. 

Some  business  connected  with  the  Holland  Land  Com- 
pany detained  me  in  Lancaster  the  rest  of  the  23rd  and 
the  24th.  I  was  joined  here  by  Mr.  Jabez  Colt,  one  of 
the  directors  of  the  Population  Company,  who  was  to 
make  the  journey  with  me,  but  had  been  detained  in 
Philadelphia  a  day  or  two  by  business.  The  25th  we  re- 
newed our  journey,  and,  as  a  storm  had  somewhat  cooled 
the  air,  our  day's  ride  was  pleasant,  though  towards 
evening  the  rain  began  again.  I  had  never  seen  any 
country  which  charmed  me  more  than  did  Lancaster 
County.  The  soil  is  fertile,  and  while  this  offers  an  easy 
competence  to  the  cultivator  it  also  rejoices  the  eye  of 
the  traveler  with  the  picturesqueness  and  beauty  of  its 
scenery.  Every  where  there  is  variety  and  charm,  and 
while  the  hills  are  not  high  or  the  rivers  very  large,  the 
views  are  ever  changing  and  would  offer  a  vast  field  of 
interest  to  a  landscape  painter. 

Although  the  roads  were  good  considering  the  heavy 
rains  we  had  had  for  two  days,  there  were  no  bridges, 
and  we  had  to  ford  such  streams  as  we  met  which  were 
somewhat  swollen.  After  a  ride  of  thirty  miles,  towards 
the  end  of  which  the  land  seemed  to  me  less  good,  we 
reached  Harrisburg,  situated  on  the  bank  of  the  Susque- 
hanna,  ten  miles  from  Middletown  where  we  had  dined. 
Middletown  and  Harrisburg  are  pretty  little  towns,  of 
no  importance  and  very  little  business.  They  are  merely 
places  where  the  farmers  of  the  country  can  obtain  the 


IN  THE  PENNSYLVANIA  INTERIOR  63 

necessaries  of  life,  and  where  reside  lawyers  and  the 
members  of  the  District  Administration. 

The  26th  we  started  early,  and  crossing  the  Susque- 
hanna  near  Harrisburg  we  reached  Carlisle  at  ten  o'clock 
A.  M.  (seventeen  miles  from  Harrisburg),  which  is  a 
small  place.  Mr.  Colt's  business  kept  us  here  till  the 
28th,  when  we  left  in  the  morning,  and  after  a  tiresome 
ride  of  thirty-eight  miles  came  in  the  evening  to  Fannets- 
town.  The  land  along  the  way  was  rather  poor  and  so 
dry  that  for  thirty  miles  we  did  not  see  a  stream  large 
enough  to  water  our  horses.  The  inhabitants  about  here 
were  not  Germans,  as  near  Lancaster,  but  Irish  or  of 
Irish  descent.  There  seemed  to  be  less  signs  of  comfort 
than  among  the  Germans,  but  I  had  not  time  to  inquire 
whether  this  was  due  to  inferiority  of  the  soil  or  to  their 
addiction  to  the  use  of  whiskey ;  perhaps  both  causes 
conduce  to  their  being  less  prosperous  than  their  neigh- 
bors in  other  counties. 

.  Before  reaching  Fannetstown  we  had  to  cross  two 
hills  called  the  "  Short  Hills,"  but  which  we  found  long 
enough,  not  because  of  their  height  but  their  steepness 
and  stoniness,  which  was  so  great  that  our  poor  horses 
could  scarcely  scale  the  ascent,  and  the  descent  was  so 
bad  that  we  had  to  dismount  and  lead  them.  The  places 
we  passed  through  during  the  day  were  very  small.  We 
dined  at  Shippensburg  and  from  there  came  to  Stras- 
burg,  which  is  at  the  foot  of  the  mountain. 

The  29th  we  began  our  day's  journey  by  crossing  the 
third  of  the  Short  Hills,  which,  however,  we  found  easier 
than  the  others.  The  day  before  the  country  had  com- 
menced to  change  its  aspect.  In  place  of  a  well-culti- 
vated soil,  we  had  since  we  left  Carlisle  found  a  newly 
cleared  district  with  stumps  of  trees  standing  or  con- 
siderable forests.  This  day  we  noticed  still  more  of  the 
primitive  wilderness.  The  country  was  mountainous, 
and  habitations  were  rare,  and  the  soil  sterile.  Towards 
noon  we  ascended  Sideling  Hill,  a  rather  high  mountain. 
Just  as  we  reached  the  summit  a  storm  broke  over  us 


64  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

with  a  heavy  rain.  Luckily  we  found  a  deserted  cabin 
where  we  took  shelter;  but  as  the  storm  seemed  to 
centre  about  the  summit  with  no  sign  of  abatement,  we 
resumed  our  journey,  and  arrived  without  accident  early 
in  the  evening  about  six  miles  short  of  Bedford,  after 
fording  the  Juniata,  and  having  ridden  thirty-five  miles 
through  a  country  which  would  have  been  uninteresting 
but  for  the  magnificent  glimpses  of  scenery,  which,  I 
fear,  did  not  make  up  to  our  poor  horses,  as  it  did  to  us, 
for  the  fatigue  of  scrambling  up  the  rocky  ascents 
where  stones  covered  the  road  and  gave  a  most  insecure 
footing. 

The  30th  we  forded  the  Juniata  again  early  in  the 
day,  and  reached  Bedford,  a  charmingly  situated  village 
near  the  river,  surrounded  by  fairly  high  mountains. 
Towards  noon  we  crossed  Allegheny  Mountain,  which 
was  higher  than  any  we  had  seen  before,  but  more  easy 
of  ascent.  From  its  summit  we  had  a  truly  grand  view, 
which  would  have  been  still  more  impressive  had  the 
weather  been  clear,  but  since  we  had  left  Lancaster  we 
had  had  but  one  fine  day,  and  that  one  we  had  spent  at 
Carlisle.  For  the  rest  of  the  time  we  had  had  alternately 
a  broiling  sun  or  heavy  rain. 

Allegheny  Mountain  has  a  base  of  fifteen  to  seven- 
teen miles,  so  that  after  crossing  it  we  had  gone  about 
thirty-five  miles  when  we  stopped  at  Stoystown.  The 
land  passed  during  the  last  two  days  had  been  very  arid, 
but  now  improved.  Towards  the  top  of  the  mountain 
and  on  the  west  side  there  were  a  few  settlements. 

The  31st  we  left  Stoystown,  and  after  a  fatiguing 
day  we  reached  Greensburg,  thirty-seven  miles.  Scarcely 
had  we  commenced  the  ascent  of  Laurel  Hill,  a  moun- 
tain nearly  as  high  as  Allegheny  and  steeper,  when  a 
storm  broke  over  us,  and  as  there  was  no  shelter,  as 
there  had  been  on  Sideling  Hill,  we  were  soon  drenched, 
and  so  arrived  at  Fort  Legonier,  a  place  where  formerly 
there  had  been  a  fort  of  that  name  of  which  the  ruins 
remained.  At  present  there  is  but  one  house.  In  the 


IN  THE  PENNSYLVANIA  INTERIOR  66 

afternoon  the  weather  cleared  and  we  crossed  Chestnut 
Ridge,  much  easier  than  the  other  mountains,  and  with- 
out accident  reached  Greensburg.  The  country  improved 
more  and  more,  and  we  saw  many  more  habitations  that 
day.  What  does  not  please  me  is  the  way  they  clear  the 
ground  here,  if  you  call  it  "  clearing  "  where  the  greater 
part  of  the  stumps  are  left  standing.  I  noticed  the 
natural  result  of  this,  for  in  many  places  the  wind  had 
blown  down  branches  on  the  growing  grain  and  injured 
it,  and,  what  was  worse,  had  in  places  beaten  down  the 
crops  entirely  and  ruined  them. 

Another  thing  that  astonished  me  was  that  in  clear- 
ing their  lands  the  people  made  no  use  whatever  of  the 
ashes,  which  they  left  where  the  trees  were  burned; 
they  could  give  no  better  reason  for  this  than  that  every 
body  did  so  and  nobody  cared  to  make  potash. 

All  this  showed  me  that  the  people  here  are  less  in- 
dustrious than  they  are  in  New  England,  for,  admitting 
what  they  pretend,  that  they  are  not  rich  enough  to 
clear  the  land  thoroughly  the  first  year,  it  is  a  bad 
excuse  when  it  extends  to  the  second  and  third  year. 

Greensburg  is  a  well-built  little  place,  and  the  neigh- 
borhood is  settled  by  Germans  largely,  so  that  the 
German  language  predominates.  The  1st  of  August  we 
left  there,  and  reached  Pittsburg  after  a  ride  of  thirty- 
two  miles.  Although  the  scarcity  of  water  makes  set- 
tlements rare  along  this  route,  I  have  never  seen  a  more 
beautiful  country.  Up  to  this  point,  the  forests  had 
been  principally  oak,  walnut  and  chestnut  of  rather 
medium  size,  but  here  they  began  to  be  larger,  and  ap- 
peared of  healthier  growth.  After  this,  these  trees  were 
mixed  with  maples,  elms  and  locust.  The  wild  plum 
was  full  of  fruit,  and  wild  grape  vines  were  heavy  with 
grapes.  Indeed  I  have  never  seen  a  country  more  charm- 
ing and  smiling,  and  if  the  borders  of  the  Ohio  are  like 
this,  one  may  well  call  it  "  La  Belle  Riviere." 

Pittsburg  is  situated  at  the  confluence  of  the  Monon- 
gahela  and  the  Allegheny  rivers,  two  large  streams  which 


66  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

after  their  junction  become  the  Ohio.  The  situation  of 
Pittsburg  is  charming ;  watered  on  two  sides  by  two 
navigable  rivers  and  surrounded  by  beautifully  wooded 
hills.  At  the  junction  of  the  rivers  was  Fort  Duquesne, 
of  which  there  are  some  remains.  The  American  fort  is 
only  a  blockhouse  with  palisaded  magazine.  There  is  no 
garrison  at  Pittsburg,  only  an  officer  as  superintendent 
of  the  magazine  and  arsenal.  The  town  is  of  considera- 
ble size  and  promises  to  grow  much  larger  when  its  trade 
increases  and  is  well  established. 

I  was  astonished  to  see  two  vessels  being  built,  the 
larger  of  two  hundred  and  sixty  tons,  the  other  of  one 
hundred  and  twenty  tons.  There  was  also  a  brigantine, 
which  I  did  not  see  because  it  was  at  some  distance,  but 
which  I  was  informed  was  ready  to  sail  as  soon  as  the 
rains  should  have  raised  the  Ohio,  so  that  it  could  go 
down  that  river  to  the  Mississippi,  for  at  the  season  of 
low  water  boats  cannot  descend  these  streams  on  account 
of  sand  banks  and  rocks.  I  saw  the  captain  of  the  brig- 
antine, who  expected  to  make  the  voyage  to  Europe. 
This  will  probably  be  the  first  vessel  to  cross  the  ocean 
which  has  been  built  two  thousand  five  hundred  miles 
from  the  sea. 

We  stayed  two  days  in  Pittsburg  to  rest  our  horses 
and  to  permit  Mr.  Colt  to  attend  to  some  business,  and 
left  on  the  4th  rather  late  in  the  morning,  as  we  had 
only  thirty  miles  to  make  that  day.  For  much  of  our 
journey  we  had  to  regulate  the  length  of  our  day's  ride 
by  the  taverns  where  we  could  lodge. 

Having  passed  the  Allegheny  river  at  Pittsburg  we 
changed  the  direction  of  our  route.  Up  to  this  time  we 
had  taken  a  westerly  course ;  now  we  traveled  north- 
ward. The  character  of  the  country  changed  somewhat, 
and  all  day  was  arid  and  sterile,  lacking  water  entirely 
except  in  two  places.  There  was  very  little  wood,  which 
I  attributed  partly  to  the  poor  soil  and  partly  to  forest 
fires,  caused  formerly  perhaps  by  accident  or  by  the 
Indians  to  make  hunting  easier  or  to  give  room  for  grass 


IN  THE  PENNSYLVANIA  INTERIOR  67 

for  their  cattle.  These  fires  not  only  kill  the  trees,  but 
injure  the  soil  greatly.  The  few  settlements  we  saw  were 
all  where  these  fires  had  not  penetrated  and  where  the 
soil  was  a  little  better.  The  settlers  are  few  in  this  re- 
gion, and  seem  very  poor.  I  have  never  seen  such  poor 
clearings  anywhere  ;  only  the  small  wood  had  been  taken 
out,  while  all  trees  of  two  feet  in  diameter  remained 
standing,  but  were  dead,  which  gave  a  very  melancholy 
aspect  to  the  country.  We  spent  the  night  thirty  miles 
from  Pittsburg,  and  on  the  5th  continued  our  journey 
through  a  district  as  sparsely  settled  and  as  arid  as  the 
day  before,  except  that  near  Franklin  where  the  soil 
seemed  better. 

Franklin,  thirty-eight  miles  from  our  last  resting 
place,  is  in  a  pretty  situation,  being  near  the  point  where 
French  Creek  joins  the  Allegheny.  Here  there  is  a  fort1 
or  blockhouse  (American),  built  formerly  for  protection 
from  the  Indians,  but  with  the  increase  of  population 
it  has  become  unnecessary  and  has  now  no  garrison. 
Franklin  is  a  small  place  of  no  importance.  We  spent 
the  night  there,  and  next  day  started  for  Meadville 
which  is  only  twenty-six  miles  distant.  As  there  was  no 
regular  road  we  followed  a  path  or  trail,  very  narrow, 
but  well  marked,  which  led  us  through  a  tract  so  sparsely 
inhabited  that  it  was  noon  before  we  found  a  place  to 
breakfast.  We  reached  Meadville  in  the  afternoon,  hav- 
ing lost  our  way  at  one  point,  and  were  glad  at  last  to 
reach  the  end,  for  a  time,  of  our  wanderings. 

Meadville  is  prettily  situated  on  the  bank  of  French 
Creek,  a  stream  navigable  for  boats  of  some  size  for  a 
good  part  of  the  year.  The  place  has  little  importance, 
and  the  houses  are  almost  all  of  hewn  logs  and  do  not 
present  a  very  attractive  appearance.  There  being  no 
lime  in  the  region,  the  settlers  are  obliged  to  use  a  sort 
of  clay  for  their  chimneys  (rather  a  dangerous  substi- 
tute), and  they  cannot  either  plaster  or  whitewash  the 
interior  of  their  houses.  .  .  . 

1  Fort  Franklin. 


68  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

The  soil,  which  seems  rich  and  free  from  wood,  is 
almost  uncultivated ;  grain  is  twice  as  dear  as  it  is  else- 
where six  weeks  after  harvest,  and  the  utmost  poverty 
exists,  judging  from  the  ragged  appearance  of  the  set- 
tlers. .  .  . 

On  the  31st  August,  I  made  an  excursion  to  Oil 
Creek l  with  Major  Alden,  ahout  twenty-seven  miles 
from  Meadville.  There  is  nothing  remarkable  in  this 
section  except  some  very  good  land  owned  by  the  Hol- 
land Land  Company.  There  are  few  settlers,  and  the 
clearings  are  about  as  they  are  near  Meadville,  of  little 
importance.  We  returned  from  this  excursion  the  next 
day,  the  first  of  September,  and  en  route  were  over- 
taken by  a  fearful  storm  while  in  the  woods.  This, 
with  heavy  rain,  the  frightful  state  of  the  road,  quite 
impracticable  for  any  vehicle,  made  our  trip  exceedingly 
disagreeable. 

I  rested  for  one  day  in  Meadville,  and  having  finished 
all  my  business  I  started  again  on  my  way,  after  a  four 
weeks  stay,  on  the  3rd  of  September,  directing  my  steps 
towards  Fort  Le  Boeuf,  which  is  twenty-six  miles  [north- 
ward] from  Meadville. 

Along  part  of  the  way  the  soil  was  quite  good,  and 
again  it  was  so  thin  that  the  roots  of  the  trees  were 
almost  on  the  surface  of  the  ground.  Continual  mud 
caused  by  recent  rain  made  the  road  almost  impassable 
and  dangerous.  However,  I  reached  Le  Boeuf  after  a 
tiresome  and  lonely  ride  without  accident,  but  not  with- 
out a  wetting,  for  a  storm  came  up  when  I  was  still  six 
miles  from  my  destination.  I  was  fortunate  to  escape  a 

1  The  Oil  Creek  settlement,  named  from  the  oily-surfaced  stream  on 
which  it  was  situated,  consisted  then  chiefly  of  a  sawmill  erected  by  the 
Holland  Land  Company  in  1798,  and  two  or  three  families  settled  on 
the  company's  land.  Its  underground  treasures  were  still  unsuspected, 
although  the  surface  overflow,  collected  in  its  crude  state  from  pits  along 
the  creek,  where  it  rose  plentifully,  was  used  somewhat  for  illuminating 
the  mill.  The  hidden  supply  remained  unappropriated  until  1859,  when 
an  artesian  well  produced  tremendous  excitement  by  bringing  up  from 
the  sand  rock  oil  in  quantities  equaling  twenty-five  barrels  a  day. 


IN  THE  PENNSYLVANIA  INTERIOR  69 

worse  one,  for  just  after  I  arrived  such  a  torrent  of  rain 
fell  that  had  I  been  exposed  to  it  I  should  have  been 
drenched  to  the  skin. 

Le  Bo3uf  [now  Waterford]  is  situated  on  a  little  lake 
[Lake  Le  Boeuf]  communicating  with  French  Creek  by 
a  small  stream  [Le  Bo3uf  Creek]  which  empties  into  it 
and  is  navigable  part  of  the  year.  Formerly  there  was 
a  French  fort  here,  and  there  is  still  a  blockhouse,  but 
no  garrison. 

The  4th  I  set  out  again,  and  after  a  solitary  ride  of 
fifteen  miles  over  a  very  bad  road,  where  my  horse  fell 
once,  I  reached  Greenfield,  and  was  received  with  great 
cordiality  by  Mr.  Colt.  This  Mr.  Colt  is  a  brother  of 
my  late  fellow-traveler,  and,  like  him,  is  an  agent  of  the 
Population  Company  in  Pennsylvania. 

The  land  along  the  road  to  Greenfield  was  fairly  good, 
though  here  and  there  thin,  and  the  clearings  along  part 
of  the  way  seemed  to  me  to  have  been  made  by  New 
Englanders,  being  much  better  than'  those  near  Mead- 
ville.  Mr.  Colt  told  me  that  my  supposition  was  correct 
and  that  the  settlers  about  here  were  in  fact  from  New 
England.  Greenfield  has  only  six  or  seven  houses  and 
is  insignificant.  I  stayed  a  day  with  the  Colt  family, 
treated  with  the  utmost  hospitality,  which  is  natural  to 
his  race,  and  his  kindness  extended  to  accompanying 
me  when  I  left,  as  far  as  the  border  of  Pennsylvania, 
which  was  eleven  miles  from  his  house.  I  had  hoped 
to  find  some  companion  to  relieve  the  loneliness  of  a 
road  which  for  one  hundred  miles  is  almost  a  wilder- 
ness and  which  was  totally  unknown  to  me,  but  no  such 
good  fortune  offered,  and  I  pursued  my  solitary  way 
after  quitting  Mr.  Colt,  and  soon,  as  usual,  was  over- 
taken by  rain,  which  continued  till  I  was  eleven  miles 
beyond  the  border  in  the  State  of  New  York  at  a  point 
where  there  is  a  portage  between  Lake  Erie  and  Lake 
Chautauqua.  Here,  about  two  miles  from  the  lake,  were 
three  newly  built  houses,  and  in  one  I  spent  the  night. 
I  have  never  seen  better  land  than  that  I  passed  as  I 


70  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

entered  New  York  State,  along  the  shore  of  the  lake, 
and  saw  the  next  day. 

The  7th  I  continued  my  journey  to  the  Catteraugus 
Creek,  a  distance  of  thirty-five  miles,  without  seeing  a 
single  house,  which  was  the  more  disagreeable  as  it  was 
very  wet.  I  passed  the  night  in  a  lonely  cabin  that  I 
found  on  the  bank  of  the  stream,  and  the  8th  I  went 
on,  starting  early. 

The  weather,  which  was  wet  in  the  morning,  cleared 
later,  and  though  the  road  was  very  lonely  I  had  a  not 
disagreeable  day.  Nearly  all  day  my  way  was  along  that 
superb  Lake  Erie,  of  which  I  had  had  but  a  glimpse  in 
Pennsylvania,  and  had  not  seen  again  except  for  a  mo- 
ment near  Catteraugus.  Having  lived  for  a  long  time 
far  from  any  body  of  water,  the  sight  of  the  great  lake, 
so  picturesque  and  so  clear,  gave  me  a  very  agreeable 
sensation,  and  the  more  that  any  anxiety  about  my  route 
was  laid  at  rest.  I  had  only  to  follow  the  shore  of  the 
lake.  The  only  trouble  I  had  was  that  here  and  there 
large  rocks  stretched  quite  into  the  lake  and  the  waves 
breaking  upon  them  so  frightened  my  horse  that  he  re- 
fused to  go  into  the  water,  and  I  was  obliged  to  make 
him  climb  up  and  over  the  rocks  which  were  rather  steep. 
Little  by  little,  however,  he  became  used  to  the  water,  and 
we  waded  round  the  points  without  further  trouble. 

I  reached  New  Amsterdam  [Buffalo]  quite  early,  after 
a  ride  of  thirty  miles.  It  is  situated  at  the  outlet  of  Lake 
Erie,  at  the  point  where  Buffalo  Creek  empties  into  it. 
New  Amsterdam  is  on  a  hill,  from  which  one  sees  the 
lake,  Fort  Erie  and  the  Canada  shore,  which  indeed  had 
been  in  sight  all  day.  The  village  is  very  small  because 
the  Holland  Land  Company,  which  owns  the  lands  here, 
as  it  does  all  that  I  have  passed  through  since  I  entered 
the  State  of  New  York,  has  not  yet  arranged  for  the 
sale  of  lots  in  the  village,  which  promises  to  become  of 
some  importance  and  might  become  more  if  a  sand  bar 
at  the  mouth  of  the  river  did  not  prevent  its  being  a 
harbor. 


IN  THE  PENNSYLVANIA  INTERIOR  71 

The  9th  I  took  advantage  of  my  proximity  to  the 
cataract  of  Niagara  (only  twenty-two  miles  from  New 
Amsterdam)  to  visit  this  marvelous  sight.  I  started 
early,  and  following  the  great  river  which  precipitates 
itself  from  Lake  Erie  into  Lake  Ontario  I  crossed  it  three 
miles  below  New  Amsterdam,  and  entered  Canada.  The 
bank  of  the  river  which  I  followed  is  pretty  well  settled 
on  the  Canada  side ;  the  land  is  good  and  fertile  and 
fairly  well  cultivated  and  the  turn  of  the  river  offers 
charming  views.  After  a  delightful  ride  I  came,  a  little 
before  noon,  to  Fort  Chippewa,  which  is  two  miles 
from  the  falls.  This  place  is  beautifully  situated  and 
of  some  size,  and  has  an  English  garrison.  I  left  my 
horse  here,  and  went  on  foot  to  see  the  cataract.  A 
mile  from  Chippewa,  the  rapids  begin,  that  is  the  water 
flows  with  great  rapidity,  while  the  rocks,  which  are 
partly  concealed  beneath,  make  it  boil  and  foam.  From 
afar  one  hears  the  roar  of  the  cataract  and  sees  the 
cloud  of  spray  which  rises  from  it  and  disappears  in 
mist. 

At  last  I  found  myself  opposite  the  falls,  and  never 
have  I  seen  anything  so  grand  and  impressive.  A  river 
nearly  a  mile  wide  is  precipitated  perpendicularly  into  a 
gulf  a  hundred  and  fifty  feet  deep,  with  a  noise  like 
thunder,  which  raises  a  cloud  of  spray  almost  concealing 
the  cataract.  The  sun  shining  fully  upon  it  formed  a 
rainbow  that  was  magnificent.  The  water  falling  seems 
entirely  spray,  and  only  in  one  place  where  it  was  deeper 
could  one  see  the  pure  green  color  of  the  water.  The 
falls  are  divided  in  two  parts  by  an  island  almost  in  the 
middle  of  the  river,  inaccessible  to  man,  which  adds 
much  to  the  scene.  The  rock  or  ledge  over  which  the 
river  plunges  is  almost  a  straight  line  for  three-quarters 
of  the  distance ;  then  it  forms  an  angle,  rather  acute, 
near  the  Canada  side. 

After  I  had  looked  long  at  the  cataract  from  different 
points  and  distances  above,  I  climbed  down  the  rocks 
nearer  to  the  bottom  of  the  river  by  a  path,  which,  no- 


72  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

\vhere  good,  would  be  impracticable  in  one  place  but  for 
a  ladder.  I  reached  the  bottom  safely,  and,  climbing 
over  the  rocks  thrown  there  by  the  river,  I  enjoyed  an- 
other view  of  the  most  beautiful  and  imposing  spectacle 
I  can  possibly  imagine.  After  six  hours  spent  in  study- 
ing this  wonderful  phenomenon  I  returned  to  Chip- 
pewa,  very  tired  from  my  arduous  climb  up  and  down 
the  rocks,  and  spent  the  night  nine  miles  from  New  Am- 
sterdam in  Canada. 

The  10th  I  went  back  into  New  York  State,  and 
having  breakfasted  at  New  Amsterdam  I  started  at  last 
on  my  homeward  way  to  Philadelphia,  but  by  a  differ- 
ent route  from  that  by  which  I  had  come.  The  country 
I  passed  through  here  seemed  fairly  good,  but  had  suf- 
fered considerably  from  forest  fires  started  probably  by 
the  Indians.  These  fires  kill  the  trees  or  injure  them, 
and  even  injure  the  soil,  at  least  where  the  leaves  have 
gathered  and  been  burnt. 

Near  New  Amsterdam  I  found  a  large  village  of 
Indians,  one  of  the  largest  in  the  State,  and  another 
large  one  near  Tonawanda  River,  and  a  third  near  Cat- 
teraugus.  The  Indians  forming  these  villages  count  per- 
haps fourteen  or  fifteen  hundred,  and  are  composed  of 
different  tribes  generally  called  the  Six  Nations,  because 
they  come  from  six  different  nations,  formerly  quite 
numerous,  living  in  different  regions,  but  who  now  are 
only  the  scattered  remains  of  these  nations. 

I  spent  the  night  twenty-three  miles  east  of  New 
Amsterdam,  and  the  llth  when  I  had  intended  starting 
very  early  in  the  morning  I  found  myself  attacked  with 
severe  pain  in  my  right  side  and  stomach  and  had  to 
return  to  my  bed.  As  there  was  no  doctor  at  hand, 
and  as  I  was  no  doctor  myself  and  my  host  was  equally 
ignorant,  there  was  nothing  to  do  but  to  lie  still  and 
suffer  in  silence,  which  I  did  until  noon,  when,  the  pain 
decreasing,  I  mounted  my  horse,  and  reached  Batavia 
safely  in  the  evening. 

Batavia  is  the  residence  of  the  Holland  Land  Com- 


IN  THE  PENNSYLVANIA  INTERIOR  73 

pany's  agent  for  the  sale  of  land  in  this  portion  of  its 
vast  property.  As  the  village  has  only  been  in  existence 
a  year  it  is  very  small,  but  as  it  is  well  laid  out  and  is 
on  the  main  road,  and  as  the  lands  in  this  district  are 
very  good,  it  may,  in  time,  become  important.  During 
the  two  days  that  I  passed  there  I  received  the  greatest 
kindness  from  Mr.  Ellicott,  the  company's  agent,  and 
from  other  gentlemen  in  his  office.  Unfortunately  I 
could  not  fully  avail  myself  of  their  hospitality,  as  I  still 
suffered  great  pain,  which  increased  and  diminished  from 
hour  to  hour.  I  consulted  a  physician,  but  he  could  not 
discover  the  cause  of  my  indisposition.  The  second  day 
he  bled  me  and  administered  some  medicine,  which,  while 
it  weakened  me,  lessened  the  pain,  so  that  on  the  14th, 
feeling  somewhat  better,  I  started  on  my  way,  accom- 
panied by  Mr.  Ellicott,  who  continued  with  me  as  far 
as  the  limit  of  the  company's  lands. 

I  passed  for  five  miles  through  a  forest,  and  came 
suddenly  into  extensive  clearings,  newly  made,  it  is  true, 
but  much  better  made  than  any  I  had  seen  in  Western 
Pennsylvania.  After  this,  the  land,  which  had  been 
good  for  ten  or  eleven  miles,  became  very  arid,  and 
seemed  to  have  suffered  from  fire.  A  curious  thing  seen 
this  day  is  worth  mentioning.  This  is  a  pond  covering 
four  or  five  acres,  entirely  fed  by  springs  of  excellent 
water  in  sufficient  quantity  to  turn,  even  in  the  summer, 
two  mills  which  are  near  the  outlet.  After  fording  the 
Genesee  River  I  spent  the  night  at  an  inn  twelve  miles 
beyond  it  and  thirty-seven  from  Batavia. 

The  15th,  I  started  early  and  breakfasted  at  Canan- 
daigua,  a  fair  sized  town,  well  built  and  situated  on  a 
lake  of  the  same  name.  Here  ends  the  great  Western 
Turnpike  of  New  York  State,  or,  to  be  more  exact,  it  is 
here  that  it  is  to  end ;  for  as  it  was  only  partly  finished, 
it  did  not  benefit  me  much,  and  I  found  the  road  from 
it  to  Geneva  in  a -horrible  condition  in  many  places, 
though  the  soil  seemed  of  very  good  quality. 

Geneva  is  situated  sixteen  miles  from  Canandaigua, 


74  HARM  JAN   HUIDEKOPER 

and  though  I  had  only  ridden  twenty-nine  miles  that  day 
I  was  obliged  to  spend  the  night  there,  having  lost  some 
time  through  my  horse  requiring  to  be  shod,  and  it 
would  have  been  too  late  to  reach  Cayuga  that  evening. 
There  was  no  decent  inn  between  these  two  places. 
Geneva  has  a  charming  position  on  Seneca  Lake,  which 
is  fifteen  miles  long  and  two  broad.  The  town  is  well 
built  and  rather  large,  thanks  to  improvements  made  by 
Mr.  Williamson,  formerly  agent  of  an  English  company. 
I  lodged  at  an  inn  built  by  this  agent  on  a  rather  ex- 
tensive scale,  considering  the  newness  of  the  country 
and  the  scarcity  of  travelers,  and  it  has  not  been  very 
profitable. 

I  left  Gen'eva  the  16th,  and  having  crossed  the  lake 
on  a  strong  bridge  nearly  a  mile  long  I  breakfasted  on 
the  other  side,  ten  miles  from  Geneva.  This  bridge 
is  probably  the  longest  in  the  United  States,  and  bears 
honorable  testimony  to  the  enterprise  of  the  State  of 
New  York.  The  toll  is  moderate,  considering  the  depre- 
ciated currency  in  this  part  of  the  world,  and  yet  they 
say  that  the  owners  of  the  bridge,  who  are  a  company, 
receive  good  interest  on  their  outlay.  The  land  between 
Geneva  and  Cayuga  situated  on  the  lake,  east  of  the 
bridge,  is  very  unimportant. 

I  went  on  that  day  to  Onondaga,  forty-seven  miles 
from  Geneva  and  east  of  Cayuga.  I  found  excellent 
land,  and  although  it  is  newly  opened  up  it  is  already 
fairly  well  settled.  This  land *  is  in  Cayuga  and  Onon- 
daga Counties  and  was  given  by  the  State  of  New  York 
to  soldiers  who  took  part  in  the  Revolutionary  War  as 
recompense  for  their  services  as  State  troops.  The  soil 
is  good,  and  the  country  more  varied  than  in  other  parts 
of  the  Genesee.  In  the  neighborhood  of  Onondaga  are 
salt  works  belonging  to  the  State,  which  supply  part  of 
this  country. 

The  17th  I  rode  on  for  nine  miles  and  then  made  a 
detour  of  nine  more  to  see  Mr.  Lincklaen  at  Cazenovia. 

1  Part  of  the  "  Donation  Lands." 


IN  THE  PENNSYLVANIA  INTERIOR  75 

This  village,  which  has  grown  considerably,  is  delight- 
fully situated  on  a  little  lake  a  mile  wide  and  four  miles 
long.  The  land  about  here  belongs  to  the  Holland 
Land  Company  and  is  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Linck- 
laen.  The  soil  is  mostly  of  good  quality,  and  the  settlers 
whom  Mr.  Lincklaen  has  drawn  here  have  made  con- 
siderable clearings.  At  Cazenovia  I  had  the  pleasure  of 
finding  my  old  friend  De  Clercq,  who,  with  his  family, 
was  very  well. 

I  spent  a  day  with  Mr.  Lincklaen,  and  on  the  19th  I 
resumed  my  journey.  Eighteen  miles  from  Mr.  Linck- 
laen's  I  came  to  the  turnpike,  and  reached  Whitestown 
in  the  evening,  a  beautiful  place  on  the  Mohawk,  thirty- 
two  miles  from  Cazenovia,  where  I  had  the  pleasure  of 
finding  several  old  acquaintances.  The  land  along  the 
turnpike  passed  this  day  is  for  the  most  part  good  and 
well  cultivated  except  such  as  still  belongs  to  the  Oneida 
Indians.  There  are  very  few  of  these  Indians,  and  they 
are  diminishing  rapidly  in  numbers.  This  is  attributed 
to  the  use  of  liquor,  which  they  obtain  from  the  white 
people  and  to  which  they  are  terribly  addicted. 

The  20th  I  went  from  Whitestown  to  Utica,  a  flour- 
ishing village  on  the  Mohawk,  six  miles  from  Whites- 
town,  in  the  midst  of  a  beautiful  and  fertile  country. 
From  there  I  reached  Oldenbarneveld,  a  little  place 
thirteen  miles  from  Utica,  where  live  the  delightful 
families  of  the  Messrs  Mappa  and  van  der  Kemp.  I 
cannot  describe  the  joy  with  which  I  saw  once  more  the 
place  where  I  had  passed  five  years  and  the  dear  and 
worthy  friends  who  had  made  my  life  there  so  happy, 
the  happiest  days  of  my  life,  so  true  it  is  that  even  in  a 
wilderness  one's  happiness  may  be  found  through  the 
kindness  of  friends.  I  spent  eight  delightful  days  in 
the  dear  Mappa  family,  including  an  excursion  of  three 
days  which  I  made  with  Mr.  Mappa  to  the  little  vil- 
lage of  Kortenaer  eighteen  miles  northward  from  Olden- 
barneveld. At  last  on  the  28th  I  was  obliged  to  tear 
myself  away  once  more  from  this  beloved  family,  that  I 


76  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

may  well  call  my  own ;  and  after  good  byes  which  cost 
me  intense  regret  I  resumed  my  journey.  I  was  ac- 
companied as  far  as  Utica  by  my  young  friend  van 
der  Kemp,1  after  which,  keeping  along  the  fertile  and 
cultivated  bank  of  the  Mohawk,  I  reached  my  night's 
lodging  at  German-flats,  thirty-one  miles  from  Olden- 
barneveld. 

At  Utica  commence  the  two  great  turnpikes  which 
lead,  the  one  partly  finished  to  Canandaigua,  and  the 
other  from  Utica  to  Albanv,  also  unfinished.  The  road 

V      ' 

served  me  well  wherever  it  was  finished,  and  I  left  it  at 
German-flats,  where  I  forded  the  Mohawk,  the  bridge 
being  broken. 

The  29th  I  followed  all  day  the  bank  of  the  Mo- 
hawk, fording  it  again  at  noon  five  miles  below  Canajo- 
harie,  a  little  place  to  the  south  of  the  river.  The  set- 
tlers in  all  this  charming  bit  of  country  from  Utica  are 
largely  descendants  of  German  emigrants  who  here 
sought  a  prosperity  difficult  enough  to  attain  in  their 
native  land.  To  the  north  of  the  river  I  passed  another 
small  village  called  Caughnewaga,  and  spent  the  night 
at  Tribeshill,  forty-one  miles  from  German-flats,  with  a 
Dutch  family  where  I  was  warmly  received  and  over- 
whelmed with  questions  by  my  hostess  when  she  found 
I  was  a  Hollander. 

The  30th  my  road  took  me  along  the  Mohawk  again ; 
the  country  mostly  settled  by  Dutch  gradually  becom- 
ing worse  as  I  approached  Schenectady.  This  town, 
twenty-one  miles  from  Tribeshill,  is  on  the  south  bank 
of  the  Mohawk  and  of  some  size,  but  is  badly  built  and 
has  little  business.  The  inhabitants  are  largely  Dutch, 
and  their  lack  of  enterprise  gives  little  promise  for  the 
place.  I  spent  the  night  at  Albany,  sixteen  miles  east 
of  Schenectady.  This  town,  which  formerly  rather  re- 
sembled Schenectady,  is  now  perhaps  the  best  built  and 
busiest  city  in  the  interior  of  the  United  States.  It  is, 
to  some  extent,  the  great  market  for  all  of  the  interior  of 

1  John  J.,soM  of  Francis  Adrian  van  der  Kemp. 


IN  THE  PENNSYLVANIA  INTERIOR  77 

New  York  State,  and  its  commerce  increases  in  propor- 
tion to  the  growth  of  the  population  and  the  settlement 
of  the  state. 

It  is  a  pity  that  the  land  in  the  vicinity  of  Albany 
does  not  correspond  to  so  flourishing  a  city.  It  is  almost 
the  poorest  land  I  have  seen  in  America,  especially  be- 
tween Schenectady  and  Albany  and  for  some  miles  be- 
yond Albany,  east  of  the  North  River.  I  lost  one  day 
at  Albany  looking  for  a  boat  going  down  the  Hudson  to 
New  York,  but  could  get  no  place  for  myself  and  my 
horse  in  the  only  two  boats  ready  to  leave,  so  on  Octo- 
ber 1st  I  started  once  more  southward,  and  having 
crossed  the  Hudson  I  passed  through  the  little  village 
of  Kinderhook  and  stopped  for  the  night  at  Hudson,  a 
good  sized  town  on  the  river  thirty-four  miles  from 
Albany. 

Here  I  tried  again  to  find  a  vessel  on  which  I  could 
get  passage  to  New  York,  but  failed  in  this,  and  was 
unsuccessful  also  the  next  day  and  the  day  after  at 
Rhinebeck,  Poughkeepsie  and  Fishkill,  and  was  obliged 
to  continue  my  journey  on  horseback. 

On  the  2nd  I  made  thirty-seven  miles,  and  passing 
through  Rhinebeck  slept  nine  miles  north  of  Pough- 
keepsie. The  country  after  leaving  Albany,  and  I  may 
say  all  the  way  to  New  York,  is  very  much  the  same ;  it 
would  be  one  of  the  most  beautiful  parts  of  America  if 
the  land  were  more  fertile.  The  country  is  hilly  and 
well  watered,  but  the  soil  is  sandy  and  worn  out,  and 
the  woods,  which  are  already  much  cut  away,  are  poor, 
and  the  trees  of  small  size.  The  settlers  along  the  river 
are  mostly  of  Dutch  descent  and  still  speak  a  sort  of 
provincial  patois.  These  settlers,  owing  to  their  having 
neglected  their  land  formerly,  are  now  obliged  to  enrich 
it  with  plaster  of  Paris,  having  few  cattle  to  furnish 
manure. 

The  3rd  I  breakfasted  at  Poughkeepsie,  a  flourish- 
ing little  town  with  some  commerce,  and  passed  the 
night  in  the  Highlands,  thirty-three  miles  from  my  last 


78  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

night's  resting  place.  I  went  through  Fishkill,  another 
little  town,  but  by  no  means  as  large  as  Poughkeepsie. 

On  the  4th  I  crossed  over  the  Highlands,  which  I  had 
been  told  were  difficult  to  ascend,  but  which  I  found 
much  easier  than  the  mountains  I  had  crossed  in  Penn- 
sylvania. The  only  peak  one  is  obliged  to  go  over  is 
not  high,  is  easy  of  ascent  and  is  flat  on  the  summit, 
and  in  extent  is  not  more  than  seven  or  eight  miles. 
The  country  beyond  the  mountain  is  hilly  for  some  dis- 
tance, so  that  my  horse  had  rather  a  hard  day,  and  we 
had  gone  forty-four  miles  when  we  arrived  at  nightfall 
at  Kingsbridge,  fourteen  miles  from  New  York.  This 
day  I  went  through  Peekskill  and  Tarrytown,  two  small 
places  of  no  importance,  except  that  the  former  has 
some  commerce  and  several  vessels  plying  on  the  North 
River. 

The  5th  I  reached  New  York  in  the  morning,  that 
city  so  flourishing  and  so  admirably  situated  for  exten- 
sive commerce.  The  North  and  East  Rivers, forming  an 
island  on  which  the  city  stands,  give  easy  access  to  the 
largest  vessels,  and  presents  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
views  possible.  Having  executed  hastily  a  few  commis- 
sions in  the  city  I  re-crossed  the  North  River,  and  going 
through  Newark,  a  pleasantly  situated  and  fairly  large 
place,  I  reached  Elisabethtown,  fifteen  miles  from  New 
York,  where  I  passed  the  night. 

This  letter  well  accentuates  Meadville's  extreme  isola- 
tion. By  any  route  that  could  be  taken  the  journey 
thither  involved  long  hard  days  in  the  saddle,  or  even 
worse  jolting  over  unfinished  roads  on  wheels.  And  on 
the  arrival  of  the  traveler  at  his  destination  the  sense 
of  remoteness  would  continue. 

Mr.  Huidekoper's  first  view  of  his  future  home,  as  he 
has  testified,  was  certainly  far  from  prepossessing,  and 
indeed  a  sharper  contrast  to  the  trim  villages  of  Hoi- 


IN  THE  PENNSYLVANIA  INTERIOR  79 

land,  or  even  to  the  quiet  Dutch  orderliness  of  Olden- 
barneveld,  than  was  presented  by  Meadville  in  its  first 
fifteen  years  could  not  well  have  been  found.  At  the 
time  of  his  visit  the  town  was  hardly  out  of  its  initial 
stage  of  enterprising  chaos.  Its  small  log  huts,  its 
muddy  streets,  its  floating  population  of  adventurers 
and  boatmen,  made  it  extremely  unprepossessing  in  his 
eyes,  and  not  until  his  second  coming  in  1805  did  he 
realize  the  possibilities  of  its  future. 

The  valley  in  which  it  lies  is  one  of  alluring  beauty. 
French  Creek,  a  tributary  of  the  Allegheny,  flows,  a 
clear  and  rapid  stream,  through  successive  intervales 
of  green  and  level  meadows.  From  the  meadows  rise 
high  but  softly  rounded  hills,  at  that  time  covered  with 
rich  forests  through  which  roamed  deer,  bear,  and 
many  other  animals.  Such  a  region  of  plenty  was  it, 
a  country  so  abounding  in  fish  and  game,  that  the  In- 
dians who  traversed  it  year  after  year  kept  it  as  a  com- 
mon hunting  ground  to  which  they  resorted  for  pelts 
and  food.  Along  the  valley,  now  on  one  side  of  the 
creek,  now  on  the  other,  ran  their  well-worn  trail,  lead- 
ing from  the  headwaters  of  the  stream  down  to  the 
Allegheny.  At  the  point  where  Cussewago  Creek  joins 
French  Creek  once  stood  one  of  their  villages,  while  the 
relics  found  in  the  neighborhood  indicate  that  in  still 
earlier  times  the  mound-builders  were  inhabitants  of  the 
hills  and  plains. 

The  French,  in  planning  their  chain  of  forts  along 
the  frontier,  recognized  the  importance  of  this  valley, 
and,  approaching  it  from  Lake  Erie,  built  their  Fort 
Le  Bceuf  near  the  source  of  the  creek,  and  Fort  Ma- 
chault  just  below  its  mouth.  Fortifications  were  also 
raised  midway,  at  Cussewago,  and  could  be  seen  there 


80  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

in  a  ruined  condition  in  the  last  century.  Even  now  it 
is  possible  to  trace  a  portion  of  the  canal  which  led 
from  the  fortifications  to  the  creek.  The  beautiful  prai- 
ries of  the  creek  bottom  won  Washington's  admiration 
as  he  passed  through  the  valley  on  his  memorable  mis- 
sion to  Fort  Duquesne,  and  he  was  certainly  one  of 
the  first  to  fasten  the  name  of  French  Creek  upon  what 
had  first  been  La  Riviere  aux  Bceufs  and  then  Venango 
River. 

When  in  1788  David,  John,  and  Darius  Mead,  Cor- 
nelius van  Horn,  and  several  other  white  men  came  to 
the  Cussewago  meadows,  the  region  was  practically  de- 
serted. The  forts  had  surrendered  their  early  names; 
Machault,  or  Venango,  had  become  Fort  Franklin,  and 
was  the  nearest  place  of  refuge  for  the  adventurous 
settlers. 

David  Mead  built  his  first  hut  on  the  Vallonia  or 
west  side  of  French  Creek  near  the  rich  bottom-lands, 
which  he  straightway  began  to  cultivate.  The  neigh- 
boring Indians  let  him  and  his  friends  alone,  but  in 
1791  Flying  Cloud  brought  notice  of  the  approach  of 
prowling  bands  from  a  distance,  and  the  little  settle- 
ment took  flight.  The  half-dozen  or  more  families  col- 
lected about  the  sawmill  embarked,  "mostly  on  rafts 
of  boards  prepared  for  the  purpose,"  and  made  their 
way  down  French  Creek  to  Fort  Franklin,  where  they 
received  protection.  When,  still  undaunted,  some  of 
the  men  shortly  returned  to  plant  their  corn  in  the 
French  Creek  meadows,  they  were  beset  by  Indians, 
and  driven  off,  and  one  of  them  was  killed.  David  Mead's 
father  was  killed  in  the  following  year,  but  notwith- 
standing this,  Mead  returned  to  his  settlement.  On  the 
eastern  bank  he  built  a  double  log  cabin  and  a  sawmill, 


IN  THE  PENNSYLVANIA  INTERIOR  81 

the  first  sawmill  west  of  the  Allegheny  River,  and  the 
projected  town  was  begun.  The  Indian  name,  Cus- 
sewago,  was  at  first  retained  for  the  settlement  by  Mead, 
but  his  friends  insisted  on  Meadville,  and  Meadville  it 
became.  A  few  Indians  lingered  in  the  vicinity,  but 
they  were  entirely  friendly.  There  were  Stripe  Neck 
and  his  family,  living  on  the  west  bank  of  French  Creek, 
near  the  present  site  of  the  Mercer  bridge ;  Flying  Cloud 
and  Big  Sun  in  their  village  to  the  northward,  on  Lake 
Erie ;  and  Cornplanter  and  his  brother  Half  town,  with 
their  people,  on  the  Allegheny,  in  what  is  now  the 
northeast  corner  of  Warren  County.  All  these  eventually 
played  their  part  in  standing  between  the  settlers  and 
destruction. 

The  harassing  of  the  settlers  continued  for  some  time, 
as  the  defeats  of  General  Harmer  in  1790  and  General 
St.  Clair  in  1791  emboldened  the  hostile  Indians  and 
kept  the  frontiersmen  in  expectant  terror.  The  inter- 
ference, by  this  state  of  warfare,  with  the  occupation  of 
the  country,  had,  as  will  be  seen,  a  direct  bearing  on 
matters  in  which  Mr.  Huidekoper  was  concerned.  David 
Mead  affirmed  in  testimony  given  in  the  case  of  "  Rich- 
ard Smith,  an  Alien,  Lessee  of  Harm  Jan  Huidekoper, 
an  Alien,  vs.  William  Stiles,"  that  in  the  beginning  of 
April,  1792,  there  was  not  one  person  resident  in  the 
country  north  and  west  of  the  rivers  Ohio  and  Allegheny 
and  Cussewago  Creek  except  the  few  families  from  his 
mills  who  were  seeking  protection  at  Fort  Franklin.  In 
that  same  spring,  however,  Mead  obtained  a  little  gar- 
rison of  a  sergeant,  a  corporal,  and  twelve  men,  hired 
some  friendly  Indians,  and,  returning  to  Meadville,  built 
a  strong  stockade  around  his  dwelling-house.  His  fam- 
ily then  came  back  from  Fort  Franklin,  and  in  Novem- 


82  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

ber  he  procured  from  General  Wayne  a  detachment  of 
a  subaltern  and  thirty  men,  and,  assisted  by  them,  com- 
pleted the  stockade  and  built  a  blockhouse,1  which  pro- 
jected over  the  bank  of  French  Creek  in  order  to  pre- 
vent the  enemy  concealing  themselves  or  having  any 
shelter  under  the  bank  of  the  creek  either  above  or  be- 
low the  fortification. 

During  the  next  few  years,  from  1792  until  the  latter 
part  of  1795,  no  settler  with  a  wife  or  children  attempted 
to  clear  ground  or  to  build  a  cabin  in  the  woods.  When 
clearing  or  planting  was  to  be  done  outside  of  the  set- 
tlement, parties  were  formed  for  its  accomplishment. 
These  parties  went  well  armed  and  set  sentries  and  pa- 
trols whose  duty  it  was  to  watch  while  their  comrades 
worked.  At  night  the  whole  little  community  assembled 
within  Mead's  house,  the  blockhouse  adjoining,  and  one 
or  two  other  houses,  finding  safety  in  numbers.  Wayne's 
victories,  however,  put  another  face  on  the  Indian 
troubles,  and  after  the  treaties  of  1795  the  town  grew 
fast. 

It  was  in  that  year  that  Major  Alden  came  to  Mead- 

1  "  The  first  block-house  stood  iu  the  north-west  angle  of  a  picket  fort, 
on  the  grounds  now  occupied  (1878)  by  Jas.  E.  McFarland.  Mead's  house 
was  in  the  middle  of  the  fort.  In  the  north-east  corner  a  cannon,  pointing 
northward,  commanded  the  creek  and  the  Indian  trail.  The  fort  faced 
down  what  is  now  Water  St.,  which  is  the  line  of  the  old  Indian  trail  to 
Franklin.  The  first  block-house  had  a  projecting  second  story,  and  it 
stood  so  near  the  creek  as  to  cause  fear  that  it  might  be  undermined.  In 
and  near  this  previous  fort  fifteen  white  men,  some  with  families,  were 
collected  Aug.  10,  1793,  the  day  when  Mr.  Dickson  was  wounded  by  In- 
dians. A  friendly  Indian,  named  Flying  Cloud,  who  was  in  the  fort, 
offered  his  son  to  carry  a  message  to  Fort  LeBoeuf .  This  message  was  sent 
Aug.  11,  and  was  followed  the  next  day  by  the  arrival  of  seven  soldiers, 
all  that  could  be  spared  from  that  point.  The  Indian  boy  left  after  sun- 
rise, and  was  back  before  dark."  From  "Our  Fortifications,"  by  F.  H.,  pub- 
lished in  the  Evening  Republican,  and  dated  Meadville,  October  24,  1878. 


IN  THE  PENNSYLVANIA  INTERIOR  83 

ville.  He  was  a  Revolutionary  soldier  whose  boast  was 
that  he  had  been  "  in  the  first  platoon  that  fired  a  shot 
at  Lexington,  and  among  the  last  in  the  action  at  York- 
town."  He  bought  land  of  David  Mead,  and  was  asso- 
ciated with  him  in  public  works.  With  Mead  and  Dr. 
Kennedy  he  surveyed  the  land,  and  laid  out  the  town, 
enlarging  and  improving  upon  the  plan  originally  con- 
ceived by  Mead,  by  extending  the  streets  and  setting 
aside  for  common  use  the  public  square,  a  parallelo- 
gram six  hundred  feet  long  and  three  hundred  feet 
wide,  which  has  always  gone  by  the  name  of  the  Dia- 
mond. Alden  had  also  distinguished  himself,  two  years 
before  Mr.  Huidekoper's  visit,  by  fighting  a  duel  on 
the  French  Creek  meadows.1  When  Mr.  Huidekoper 
first  saw  him,  in  1802,  he  was  a  prosperous  citizen 
and  had  a  combined  gristmill  and  sawmill  at  Saeger- 
town.2 

The  Meadville  streets  at  that  date,  Dock,  Water,  Chest- 
nut, Centre,  and  Walnut,  were  mainly  corduroy  roads, 

1  "  On  the  day  appointed  Mr.  Foster,  accompanied  by  his  second,  Dr. 
Wallace  of  Erie,  rode  down  the  east  side  of  the  creek  to  a  cluster  of  thorn 
bushes  a  mile  and  a  half  below  Meadville  ;  and  Major  Alden  and  Dr. 
Kennedy,  his  second,  rode  down  on  the  opposite  side  and  swam  their 
horses  across  the  stream.   The  ground  was  measured  off  and  word  given 
to  fire,  when  Major  Alden  fell,  wounded  just  below  the  knee,  the  bone 
being  broken.   He  insisted  on  being  propped  up  for  the  exchange  of 
another  shot.   The  seconds  would  not  consent,  and  he  was  carried  back  to 
town  in  a  canoe.   He  was  lame  ever  after,  but  he  gained  the  lady  in  ques- 
tion." J.  C.  Hayes,  in  the  Centennial  Edition  of  the  Tribune  Republican, 
Meadville,  p.  35. 

2  He  "  represented  the  County  in  the  Legislature  from  1809  to  1811, 
was  County  Treasurer  from  1816  to  1819,  and  Registrar  and  Recorder 
from  1821  to  February,  1825.  .  .  .  After  the  war  of  1812-15  he  became 
financially  embarrassed  and  lost  all  his  property.   February,  1825,  he  was 
appointed  quartermaster  at  West  Point,  and  removed  from  Meadville  in 
the  same  year,  dying  at  the  former  place  between  eighty  and  ninety  years 
of  age."  History  of  Crawford  County,  p.  373. 


84  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

by  the  side  of  which  stood  a  number  of  straggling  log 
cabins.  In  one  of  these  Jenny  Finney  had  held  the 
first  school  of  Meadville.  Her  mode  of  obtaining  this 
temple  of  learning  was  picturesque.  The  cabin  had  been 
built  and  occupied  by  William  Gill  on  land  which  he 
was  the  first  to  claim,  and  which  he  diligently  hoed  and 
planted  through  one  long  summer.  When  his  corn  and 
potatoes  were  gathered  in  he  closed  the  door  behind  him 
and  returned  to  Pittsburg  to  fetch  his  waiting  family. 
He  tarried  in  Pittsburg  too  long,  the  winter  passed, 
and  when  he  appeared  in  Meadville  in  the  spring,  it  was 
to  find  Jenny  Finney  in  full  occupation  of  his  claim,  — 
cabin,  land,  and  all.  She  stood  at  the  door  with  a  rifle  in 
her  hand,  and  advised  him  to  go  his  ways,  which  he 
prudently  did. 

In  William  Gill's  cabin,  then,  Jenny  Finney  collected 
about  her  the  few  children  of  the  village  and  estab- 
lished herself  as  mistress  of  the  "taws,"  for  a  large 
part  of  education  then  consisted  in  teaching  the  chil- 
dren to  pick  up  this  instrument  of  discipline,  when  it 
was  thrown  at  them  by  the  teacher,  and  to  redeliver  it 
to  the  thrower,  to  receive  such  compensation  as  they 
deserved  in  the  form  of  blows.  Her  spirit  and  ability 
made  her  a  worthy  wife  for  David  Mead,  who  married 
her  not  long  afterward.1 

Before  1802,  Mead  himself  had  removed  from  his 
log  dwelling,  on  the  bank  of  the  old  bed  of  French 
Creek,  to  a  new  frame  house,  which  he  had  built  at  the 
junction  of  North  Water  and  Market  streets.  Another 
frame  house  had  been  built  as  early  as  1795  on  the 

1  The  daughter  of  General  Mead  and  his  wife,  Jenny  Finney,  after- 
wards married  the  son  of  William  Gill,  and  as  her  mother's  property 
became  hers,  it  was  thus  restored  to  the  family  of  its  original  owner. 


IN  THE  PENNSYLVANIA  INTERIOR  85 

northeast  corner  of  Water  Street  and  Cherry  Alley  by 
William  Dick. 

In  the  upper  story  of  this  house  of  Mr.  Dick  was 
held  the  first  court ;  and  David  Mead  was  one  of 
the  associate  judges.  This  was  in  1800.  Before  that 
Mead  had  had  to  hear  cases  as  justice  of  the  peace. 
One  of  the  first  cases  to  come  before  him  as  justice 
was  an  action  of  his  own,  for  debt,  brought  against 
Robert  Fitz  Randolph.  At  that  time  no  constable  had 
been  appointed.  Mead,  already  both  judge  and  plain- 
tiff, decided  that  he  must  be  his  own  constable.  He 
issued  a  summons,  served  it  on  Randolph,  sat  in  judg- 
ment, rendered  a  verdict  in  his  own  favor,  made  out  an 
execution,  served  that,  seized  one  of  Randolph's  horses, 
advertised  it  for  sale,  put  up  the  horse  at  auction  him- 
self, bought  it  himself,  paid  himself  out  of  the  pro- 
ceeds, and  finally  handed  over  to  Randolph  the  money 
that  remained.  It  may  well  have  seemed  to  Mr.  Huide- 
koper,  after  coming  face  to  face  with  rough  and  ready 
methods  like  these,  that  his  Dutch  training  had  not  suf- 
ficiently prepared  him  to  act  upon  his  own  initiative. 

That  his  opinion  of  early  Meadville,  as  expressed  in 
his  letter,  should  have  been  unfavorable  is  scarcely  to 
be  wondered  at ;  any  stranger  coming  to  the  town  at 
that  period  would  have  been  more  impressed  by  the 
carousing  of  the  river  boatmen,  lumbering  crews,  and 
'longshore  men,  than  by  the  fact  that  the  townspeople 
had  raised  a  fund  of  four  thousand  dollars  for  the 
founding  of  an  academy,  and  had  already  organized 
their  First  Presbyterian  Church. 

For  an  idler,  which  Mr.  Huidekoper  was  not,  the 
water  edge  would  have  had  a  fascination  all  its  own. 
Down  through  French  Creek,  besides  the  rafts  of  lum- 


86  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

her  making  their  slow  way  to  the  great  river,  thence  to 
descend  even  as  far  as  to  New  Orleans,  came  all  the  salt 
consumed  in  the  Ohio  Valley.  From  the  salt  springs  at 
Onondaga,  New  York,  it  was  hauled  over  the  snow  by 
oxen  in  the  sledding  season  to  Buffalo,  where  it  was 
stored  to  await  the  spring.  When  the  ice  broke  up  it 
was  taken  to  Erie  in  sailing  vessels,  to  be  carried  over- 
land again  to  Waterford,  where  it  was  loaded  upon 
keelboats,  arks  or  broadhorns,  canoes  and  bateaux,  and 
dispatched  down  French  Creek, — which  was  a  larger 
stream  then  than  it  is  to-day,  —  past  Meadville  to 
Franklin,  thence  by  the  Allegheny  to  Pittsburg,1  and 
by  the  Ohio  to  Cincinnati  and  Louisville.  In  the 
scarcity  of  ready  money,  salt  was  a  favorite  medium  of 
exchange,  —  a  yoke  of  oxen  could  be  bought  for  eight 
barrels,  a  negro  boy  for  one  hundred  barrels,2  —  a  barrel 
being  worth  five  dollars  at  that  time. 

Nor  did  Meadville  altogether  lack  an  export.  Dr. 
Kennedy  had  brought  home  in  his  saddle-bags,  on  his 
return  from  some  journey,  in  1797,  a  few  quarts  of 
wheat,  which  he  divided  among  his  farmer  friends, 
and  which  produced  for  them  abundant  seed.  Rye  and 
barley  were  obtained  not  long  afterward,  and  grain- 
fields  flourished.  But  grain  was  bulky  and  the  means 
of  carrying  were  few.  The  crop  must  be  reduced  to  a 
portable  size ;  so  David  Mead  set  up  a  still  in  addition 
to  his  sawmill  and  gristmill,  and  changed  his  grain  to 

1  "  It  required  from  two  to  three  months  to  convey  it  from  the  place  of 
manufacture  to  Pittsburgh.  .  .  .  The  discovery  of  salt  wells  on  the  Kis- 
kiminitas  and  Kanawha,  about  1813,  cheapened  the  price  of  the  article 
at  Pittsburgh,  so  that  Salina  could  not  compete,  and  the  trade  by  way  of 
Erie  steadily  diminished  until  it  ceased  altogether  in  1819."  History  of 
Crawford  County,  p.  265. 

a  Our  County  and  Its  People,  by  Samuel  Bates,  p.  264. 


IN  THE  PENNSYLVANIA  INTERIOR  87 

whiskey.  The  farmers  roundabout  followed  his  exam- 
ple, using  the  old-time  copper  boiler  and  worm-still,  an 
inexpensive  apparatus  within  every  one's  reach,  and  the 
problem  was  solved.  Bushels  of  rye  were  thus  changed 
into  a  currency  that  in  small  space  contained  a  com- 
paratively enormous  purchasing  power.1 

Such  was  the  community  which  Mr.  Huidekoper 
found  in  western  Pennsylvania  in  1802.  He  had  then 
no  thought  of  returning  to  it,  but  before  two  years 
were  gone  circumstances  impelled  him  to  turn  again  to 
the  westward.  Of  this  the  autobiography  now  speaks, 
as  well  as  of  the  arrival  from  Holland  of  Pieter  Huide- 
koper. Pieter's  coming,  indeed,  was  one  of  the  fac- 
tors which  induced  his  brother  to  accept  the  agency 
at  Meadville.  Large  and  strong,  of  fine  physical  build, 
Pieter  was,  notwithstanding,  ill-fitted  by  nature  or  by 
education  for  a  city  career.  Handsome,  impetuous, 
warm-hearted,  hot-tempered,  he  would  evidently  do 
better  in  the  country  than  in  a  town.  His  strength 
was  truly  remarkable.  He  could  take  a  barrel  of  flour 
in  his  hands,  and  with  absolute  ease  run  upstairs  with 
it.  He  could  subdue  the  fiercest  bulldog  or  mastiff  in 

1  "  For  domestic  use  it  [whiskey]  cost  three  shillings  per  quart,  while 
a  gill  cost  four  cents.  Tobacco  was  sold  by  the  yard  at  four  cents  per 
yard;  common  sugar  at  33  cents  and  loaf  at  50  cents  per  pound.  Home- 
spun linen  could  be  purchased  at  50  cents  per  yard,  while  the  belle 
aspiring  to  the  extravagance  of  a  calico  could  gratify  her  ambition  at 
83  cents  per  yard,  with  the  addition  of  a  cotton  handkerchief  at  from  70 
cents  to  $1.00  according  to  color  and  design.  Shoes  and  boots  brought 
from  $1.00  to  $3.00  per  pair,  but  moccasins  were  in  common  use  with 
both  white  men  and  Indians  at  3  shillings  and  ninepence,  though  from 
ninepence  to  two  shillings  higher  when  ornamented  with  the  colored 
quills  of  the  porcupine.  ...  In  an  inventory  made  in  1797,  three  kegs 
of  Seneca  oil  (petroleum)  are  appraised  at  50  cents  each.  This  is  doubt- 
less one  of  the  oldest  quotations  of  the  market  price  of  this  material." 
History  of  Crawford  County,  p.  255. 


88  HARM  JAN  HU1DEKOPER 

full  attack,  for  he  would  simply  seize  the  animal  by  the 
throat  and  choke  it  until  it  became  powerless.  Added 
to  his  muscular  prowess,  he  had  an  uncommonly  win- 
ning address,  and  an  affectionate  nature  which  en- 
deared him  to  his  friends,  but  his  sensitive  disposition 
required  infinite  patience  and  forbearance  even  from 
the  most  considerate  of  brothers.  Neither  brother  recog- 
nized the  other  when  they  met,  so  much  had  they  both 
changed  since  their  parting  in  Drenthe ; l  but  Harm 
Jan  immediately  made  himself  responsible  for  Pieter's 
future,  and  in  forming  his  plans  weighed  Pieter's  ad- 
vantage as  if  it  had  been  his  own. 

In  the  summer  of  1804  [says  the  autobiography,2  re- 
suming the  narrative]  Major  Alden  sent  in  his  resig- 
nation as  Agent.  Mr.  Busti  being  at  a  loss  who  to 
appoint  as  his  successor,  I  applied  for  that  Agency,  and 
obtained  it,  with  the  addition  of  a  Superintending  Agency 
of  the  Company's  lands  in  the  5th  and  6th  districts 
East  of  the  Allegheny  river,  which  had  been  placed 
under  the  immediate  Agency  of  William  P.  Brady  and 
Robert  Beatty.  Most  of  my  friends  in  Philadelphia 
thought  that  I  did  wrong  in  exchanging  My  comfortable 
situation  in  Philadelphia  for  the  hardships  and  priva- 
tions then  inseparably  connected  with  a  residence  in  this 

1  Of  Pieter's  coming  Mr.  Huidekoper  wrote  to  his  brother  in  a  letter 
of  July  31, 1805  :  "  You  were  surprised  that  Pieter  and  I  did  not  recog- 
nize each  other  when  we  met,  but  that  was  because  we  had  not  seen  each 
other  for  such  a  long  time  and  because  we  were  both  still  young  when  I 
left  Holland.  I  am  not  sure  that  you  yourself,  if  I  appeared  suddenly  at 
Boonwyk,  would  recognize  me.  But  however  my  face  may  have  altered 
my  heart  has  remained  the  same  toward  you." 

8  The  following  passage  occurs  between  the  part  of  the  autobiography 
contained  in  the  second  chapter,  and  that  which  is  here  given  :  "  In 
June  1804  I  purchased  from  the  Holland  Land  Company  about  Twenty- 
two  thousand  Acres  of  land  north  of  Toby's  Creek.  This  was  the  first  of 
my  land  speculations,  and  it  proved,  in  the  issue,  a  profitable  one." 


PIETER   HUIDEKOPER 


IN  THE  PENNSYLVANIA  INTERIOR  89 

Country.  I  however  had  maturely  considered  this  mat- 
ter, and  I  thought  then,  and  have  thought  ever  after- 
wards, that  I  acted  wisely  in  taking  the  step  I  took.  My 
principal  reasons  for  exchanging  My  situation  in  the 
city  for  one  in  the  country  were  two.  My  Brother 
Pieter  had  in  the  Spring  of  1804  arrived  from  Holland, 
and  in  the  Country  I  could  more  easily  provide  for  him ; 
and  besides  I  felt  anxious  to  be  settled  in  life,  and  have 
a  home  of  my  own,  and  this  I  considered  as  more  easily 
attainable  in  the  Country  than  in  the  City.  To  this  was 
added  my  predilection  for  a  country  life. 

I  left  Philadelphia  for  the  West  in  the  Month  of  Sep- 
tember 1804;  remained  some  time  at  Greensburgh,1 
from  whence  I  made  an  excursion  to  the  Company's 
lands  on  the  Mahoning,  in  Company  with  some  Swiss 
Settlers;  and  after  some  further  detention  at  Greens- 
burgh,  by  an  indisposition  of  my  Brother's,  I  arrived  at 
Meadville  towards  the  latter  part  of  November ;  and  on 
the  1st  of  January  1805  I  entered  on  the  duties  of  my 
Agency. 

Meadville  had  rapidly  improved  during  the  two  years 
which  had  elapsed  since  Mr.  Huidekoper's  first  visit. 
The  number  and  character  of  the  inhabitants  had 
advanced ;  and  new  houses  gave  the  town  a  thriving 
aspect.  Moreover,  the  Meadville  Academy,  under  the 
charge  of  the  Rev.  Joseph  Stockton  of  the  Presbyterian 

1  Greensburgh  was  the  headquarters  of  Messrs.  Beatty  and  Brady. 
Mr.  Huidekoper  wrote  on  September  22  to  Mr.  Busti :  "  If  you  ever  visit 
this  part  of  the  country  I  advise  you  not  to  do  it  in  the  stage,  for  the 
roads  are  so  bad,  and  the  jolting  of  the  carriage  is  so  unbearable  that  we 
fairly  wore  out  each  a  pair  of  boots  in  walking  over  the  rocks  and  moun- 
tains on  foot." 

The  applications  for  lands  about  Greensburgh  were  going  on  at  a  pro- 
digious rate.  He  said  that  they  far  surpassed  his  expectations,  though 
these  had  been  sanguine.  Mr.  Beatty  told  him  that  sometimes  as  many 
as  thirty  persons  were  with  him  in  the  woods  at  once,  hunting  for 
land. 


90  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

Church,  was  about  to  open,  and  manufacturing  in  a 
small  way  had  begun.  A  combined  court  house  and  jail 
had  been  put  up  on  the  west  side  of  the  Diamond.  This 
building  was  of  hewn  timber,  and  had  its  yard  inclosed 
by  a  stockade  fence  of  pointed  logs.  A  double  stair- 
way led  up  on  the  outside  of  the  jail  to  the  second 
story,  which  was  the  court-room,  and  served,  besides, 
on  Sundays,  as  a  place  of  worship  for  the  community  in 
general,  as  the  different  churches  had  not  yet  their 
separate  homes.  In  1805,  too,  the  Erie  and  Waterford 
turnpike  project  was  being  pushed  vigorously.  The 
road  was  to  pass  through  Meadville,  and  all  the  leading 
citizens,  including  General  Mead,  Colonel  Hackney, 
Major  Alden,  Dr.  Kennedy,  and  Jabez  Colt  were  in- 
terested. 

More  than  all,  the  newspaper  had  arrived.  It  was  a 
four-page  sheet,  by  name  "  The  Crawford  Messenger," 
and  was  edited  by  Thomas  Atkinson  and  W.  Brendel. 
The  paper  on  which  it  was  printed  had  to  be  brought 
on  horseback  from  the  mills  near  Pittsburg,  over  more 
than  a  hundred  miles  of  rough  forest  roads.  The  press 
had  been  procured  at  second  hand.  It  was,  in  fact,  the 
same  press  that  had  printed  the  Continental  money 
issued  by  Congress  during  its  sessions  at  Lancaster  and 
York,  when  the  British  were  in  Philadelphia.  When 
the  items  of  news  reached  Meadville,  they  were  usually 
fourteen  days  old  if  they  came  from  Lancaster  or  Phila- 
delphia, eighteen,  twenty-one,  and  twenty-two  days  old 
when  they  were  from  New  York,  Washington,  or  Boston, 
while  if  from  London  they  came  in  from  sixty  to 
seventy-six  days,  and  from  Paris  in  from  seventy-one 
to  eighty-five. 

In  the  first  number  of  the  "  Messenger,"  issued  Janu- 


IN  THE  PENNSYLVANIA  INTERIOR  91 

ary  2,  1805,  an  editorial  address  to  the  public  says : 
"  Among  the  various  amusements  for  which  the  present 
age  is  distinguished  that  of  a  newspaper  conducted  with 
diligence,  attention  and  probity,  is  not  the  least  deserv- 
ing the  public  patronage.  ...  It  introduces  the  READER 
into  the  theatre  of  the  world  and  shows  him  the  great 
actors  on  the  stage  of  TIME."  And  indeed  the  "  Mes- 
senger" could  make  good  its  words.  In  the  issues  of 
January  16  and  January  25,  1805,  the  READER  saw 
the  curtain  rise  upon  one  scene  of  a  most  thrilling  drama, 
when  his  eye  fell  upon  the  heading :  "  News  from  Paris 
dated  28th  Vendemiaire,"  or  read,  "  Copy  of  the  note 
delivered  by  the  French  Minister  of  the  foreign  depart- 
ment to  the  imperial  Russian  Charge  d'affaires,  dated 
Paris,  26th  Floreal,  year  XIII,  or  the  16  May,  1804." 
This  last  was  followed  by  the  "  note  "  in  question,  at 
the  end  of  which  was  appended  "  C.  M.  Talleyrand." 
And  two  years  later,  more  than  a  column  of  the  little 
sheet  was  fairly  vibrating  with  the  rallying  cry  "  Sol- 
diers ! "  every  paragraph  beginning  with  the  ringing 
invocation,  and  one  continuing,  "  The  Russians  boast  of 
coming  to  us.  We  will  march  to  meet  them  and  thus 
spare  them  half  the  road.  They  shall  again  find  Aus- 
terlitz  in  the  heart  of  Prussia."  This  was  signed  "  Na- 
poleon." 

Or,  was  the  READER  a  certain  young  Hollander,  the 
following  portion  of  a  letter  from  a  merchant  in  Amster- 
dam to  his  correspondent  in  New  York,  dated  March 
4,  1808,  might  interest  him :  "  It  seems  to  be  the  de- 
termination of  Bonaparte  that  all  the  world  shall  be  at 
war.  .  .  .  An  embargo  took  place  here  on  the  25th  of 
January,  for  what  purpose  is  at  present  unknown.  The 
American  consul  has  petitioned  for  one  of  the  ships  to 


92  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

depart  for  the  United  States  with  all  the  unfortunate 
American  seamen.  This  request  has  been  granted,  and 
it  is  by  that  conveyance  I  now  address  you."  That  bit 
of  news  had  been  nearly  six  weeks  in  reaching  New 
York,  and  was  two  months  more  in  finding  its  way  to 
Meadville.  In  their  wholesome  isolation,  patrons  of  the 
"  Crawford  Messenger,"  we  may  be  certain,  were  secure 
from  the  intrusion  of  revolting  horrors  like  those  served 
up  at  breakfast  time  in  our  great  dailies  at  the  present 
day. 

"  The  '  Messenger '  in  its  political  character  will  be 
purely  Republican,"  the  address  in  the  first  number  goes 
on  to  state,  "  yet  in  the  admission  of  essays  it  will  be 
strictly  impartial.  .  .  .  Truth  can  only  be  advanced  by 
discussion,"  —  a  proposition  which  Mr.  Huidekoper 
maintained  in  practice  through  many  a  long  controversy 
in  its  columns  at  a  later  day.  The  semi-literary  charac- 
ter of  the  paper,  too,  was  emphasized  from  the  first  by 
a  page  devoted  to  such  contributions  or  clippings  as 
"To  the  Ivy  "  by  Mrs.  Hemans,  and  "The  Red-nosed 
Lieutenant "  from  the  London  "  Literary  Gazette." 
Piquancy  is  added  to  the  literary  page  by  the  notice 
that  "  Clean  Linen  and  Cotton  Rags  will  be  received  in 
payment  for  this  paper,"  and  by  the  announcement, 
among  the  advertisements,  that  Dick  and  Company,  in 
exchange  for  "  Real  Tartan  Bombazet  and  Circassian 
Plaids,  Canton  Crapes,  Levantine  Sarcenet  Silks  and 
other  goods,"  will  accept  "  Blacksalts,  Flax-seed,  Tim- 
othy Seed,  Oats,  Beeswax,  Butter,  Linen  Rags,  Deer- 
skins, Deerhorns,  Tallow,  Lard,  White  Beans,  etc.,"  — 
a  list  which  brings  vividly  before  us  the  farmer's  wagons 
transporting  these  commodities  from  the  surrounding 
country,  and  the  Indian  hunters  bartering,  not  perhaps 


IN  THE  PENNSYLVANIA  INTERIOR  93 

at  Dick's  for  Canton  Crapes  or  Sarcenet  silks,  but  at 
Kerr's  or  Cullum's  for  lead  shot  and  James  River  to- 
bacco. Suggestive  also  are  the  alluring  offers  of  Quills, 
Ink-powder,  Wafers,  Thumb  and  Knob  Latches,  Snuffers, 
Candlewicks,  Bed  Screws,  Opodeldoc,  Asaf  oetida,  Venice 
Turpentine,  or  "Misses  Prunella  Slippers  and  Men's 
Sealskin  Pumps." 

The  office  of  the  "  Messenger  "  was  also  a  book  de- 
partment, where  might  be  obtained  the  "  New  England 
Primer,"  not  like  some  late  fragmentary  reprints,  issued 
for  the  scorn  and  laughter  of  infancy,  but  the  genuine, 
original,  awe-inspiring,  reverence-breeding  volume,  pored 
over,  dog-eared,  devoured  by  wistful  men  and  half- 
grown  boys,  groping  for  education  in  the  firelight  of 
the  hearth,  between  chores  and  bedtime.  From  the 
moral  tales  of  the  primer  a  lad  could  step,  still  with  the 
assistance  of  the  "Messenger's"  bookshelves,  to  Watts's 
Hymns,  Burns's  Poems,  Whitefield's  Sermons,  and  finally 
out  into  the  "  Gentleman's  Miscellany,"  all  these  being 
advertised  in  the  paper  itself. 

On  January  16,  1805,  appeared  in  the  "  Messenger  " 
the  announcement :  "  Take  Notice.  The  subscriber  hav- 
ing been  duly  appointed  by  the  Holland  Land  Company 
Agent  for  their  lands  west  of  the  Allegheny  River,  hereby 
gives  notice  to  the  public  that  he  has  opened  his  office 
at  Meadville.  Those  who  are  indebted  to  said  company 
are  requested  to  make  payment,  and  those  whose  book 
accounts  remain  still  unsettled  are  earnestly  desired  to 
come  forward  and  settle  the  same,  as  the  subscriber 
would  be  sorry  to  see  himself  obliged  to  institute  suits 
in  order  to  obtain  a  settlement  of  the  book  accounts, 
which  is  indispensable.  H.  J.  Huidekoper." 

In  addition  to  this,  the  issue  of  March  20, 1805,  con- 


94  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

tained  a  notice  of  the  opinion  of  the  court  in  the  case 
of  "  The  Lessee  of  Harm  Jan  Huidekoper  vs.  James 
Douglass,"  1  which  leads  us  back  to  Mr.  Huidekoper  and 
to  a  consideration  of  the  nature  and  difficulties  of  the 
Holland  Land  Company. 

1  Huidekoper  vs.  Douglass,  3  Cranch  Rep.  1. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  HOLLAND  LAND  COMPANY 

THE  Holland  Land  Company  was  one  of  the  many 
great  companies  formed  in  the  latter  part  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century  for  the  purpose  of  dealing  in  western 
lands.  It  was  not  a  corporation,  but  an  association  of 
Dutch  capitalists,  who  purchased  lands  and  conducted 
their  operations  in  the  names  of  certain  of  the  associ- 
ates acting  as  trustees.  It  had  as  a  basis  for  its  opera- 
tions a  capital  of  four  million  three  hundred  and  ninety- 
two  thousand  dollars,1  and  for  more  than  forty  years 
played  an  important  part  in  the  settlement  and  develop- 
ment of  western  New  York  and  northwestern  Pennsyl- 
vania. 

The  story  of  how  these  Amsterdam  bankers  and  mer- 
chants came  to  invest  large  sums  of  money  in  the 
purchase  of  lands  roamed  over  by  red  men,  and  on  their 
western  borders  abandoned,  at  the  time  of  the  purchase, 
to  the  horrors  of  the  Indian  war,  takes  us  back  to  the 
days  of  the  Revolution. 

Mr.  Busti,  general  agent  of  the  Company,  already 
mentioned  in  Mr.  Huidekoper's  letters  and  autobio- 
graphy, says  :  "  At  an  early  stage  of  the  American  re- 
volution, when  the  struggle  for  liberty  and  independence 
was  yet  doubtful,  the  Dutch  merchants,  who  afterwards 

1  Memorial  of  Paul  Busti  to  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  New  York, 
March  1,  1820.  See  Journals  of  John  Lincklaen,  edited  by  Helen  Linck- 
laen  Fairchild,  Appendix  C. 


96  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

formed  the  Holland  Land  Company,  warmly  espousing 
the  cause  of  this  infant  republic,  came  forward,  at  every 
hazard,  to  furnish  her  with  supplies,  in  order  to  relieve 
the  wants  of  her  armies.  The  meritorious  exertions  of 
these  individuals  cannot  be  forgotten  by  the  surviving 
patriots  of  the  revolution,  nor  will  the  faithful  records 
of  history  cease  to  attest  them  to  posterity.  The  gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States,  in  the  enjoyment  of  the 
blessings  of  peace  and  independence,  being  soon  happily 
enabled  by  a  wise  and  regular  system  of  finance  to 
satisfy  the  demand  of  their  public  creditors,  the  capital 
of  part  of  the  debt  thus  contracted  with  the  merchants 
of  Holland  was  thrown  into  their  hands  at  a  moment  when 
the  convulsions  and  revolutions  of  Europe  threatened  to 
subvert  the  whole  fabric  of  civil  society.  Under  these 
circumstances,  they  determined  to  reinvest  these  funds 
in  American  lands,  and  during  the  course  of  the  years 
1792  and  1793  the  uncultivated  wilds  of  the  Genesee 
thus  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  individuals  who  com- 
posed the  Holland  Land  Company,  and  who,  for  the 
purchase  and  improvement  of  this  property,  formed  an 
association." l 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  records  of  the  general 
agency  of  the  Company  have  long  since  been  removed 
from  Philadelphia  to  Amsterdam,  where  they  are  inac- 
cessible.2 The  details  of  the  story,  therefore,  are  not 
known,  but  in  outline  it  seems  to  be  as  follows : 3 

1  Memorial  of  Paul  Busti  to  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  New  York. 

3  "  In  1855,  after  the  death  of  Mr.  J.  J.  Van  der  Kemp,  Mr.  Van  der 
Kemp's  daughter  gave  to  the  care  of  Mr.  van  Hall,  to  be  taken  back  to 
Holland,  twelve  green  wooden  chests  of  the  Company's  papers.  These  are 
probably  still  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  Pieter  van  Eeghen  in  Amsterdam." 
Family  letters. 

»  See  Pioneer  History  of  the  Holland  Land  Purchase  of  Western  New 


THE  HOLLAND  LAND  COMPANY  97 

When  in  the  winter  of  1782-83  John  Adams  obtained 
a  loan  for  the  United  States  from  the  Dutch,  his  nego- 
tiations were  carried  on  through  the  three  great  banking 
firms  of  Wilhem  and  Jan  Willink,  Nicholas  and  Jacob 
van  Staphorst,  and  de  la  Lande  and  Fynje.1  At  that 
time  and  up  to  1784  Robert  Morris  was  superintendent 
of  finance,  and  in  the  course  of  his  official  duties  he 
corresponded  with  the  Dutch  bankers.  In  1791  Morris 
purchased  a  tract  of  some  3,800,000  acres  of  wild  land 
in  western  New  York,  embracing  substantially  all  the 
land  in  that  State  west  of  the  Genesee  River,  and  being 
engaged  in  so  extensive  a  speculation  it  was  but  natural 
that  he  should  think  of  his  former  correspondents,  the 
Willinks  and  the  van  Staphorsts,  and  of  the  funds  soon 
to  be  paid  over  to  them  and  to  those  whom  they  had  re- 
presented in  making  the  Dutch  loan.  Perhaps  he  already 
contemplated  selling  to  them  when  he  bought.  What 
steps  he  took  to  bring  his  lands  to  their  notice  is  matter 
of  conjecture,  but  a  pamphlet  entitled  "  Reflections 
offertes  aux  Capitalistes  de  1'Europe,  sur  les  Benefices 
immenses,  que  presente  1'achat  de  terres  incultes,  situees 
dans  les  Etats-Unis  de  L' Amerique," 2  issued  at  Amster- 
dam in  1792,  was  doubtless  one  of  the  means  employed. 
In  the  preface  to  the  "  Reflections  "  the  author  states 

York,  by  O.  Turner,  Buffalo,  1849  ;  History  of  the  Pioneer  Settlement  of 
Phelps  and  Gorman  Purchase,  etc.,  by  O.  Turner,  Rochester,  1851;  Life 
and  Works  of  John  Adams,  by  Charles  Francis  Adams;  The  Financier  and 
the  Finances  of  the  American  Revolution,  by  William  Graham  Sumner,  New 
York,  1892;  Narrative  and  Critical  History  of  America,  vol.  vii.  p.  535; 
The  Holland  Land  Company,  by  Alfred  Huidekoper,  Appendix,  p.  350. 

1  Life  and  Works  of  John  Adams,  vol.  i.  p.  351.    De  la  Lande  and  Fynje 
do  not  seem  to  have  become  interested  in  the  Holland  Land  Company. 
At  least  their  names  do  not  appear  among  the  associates. 

2  The  pamphlet  is  anonymous,  but  is  attributed  to  Van  Pradelles.   It 
is  to  be  found  in  the  Boston  Public  Library. 


98  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

that  his  only  reason  for  writing  the  little  work  is  to  in- 
form the  public,  and  principally  the  Holland  merchants, 
that  the  purchase  of  uncultivated  lands  in  America,  by 
reason  of  the  extreme  rapidity  with  which  they  increase 
in  value,  promises  greater  and  more  certain  advantages 
than  those  which  their  thorough  business  knowledge  has 
already  procured  for  them  in  the  bonds  of  the  country. 
It  "  skillfully  and  convincingly  leads  up  to  the  Genesee 
country,  and  leaves  the  reader  with  the  firm  conviction 
that  the  Genesee  country  is  by  far  the  most  attractive 
field  for  speculation  in  land." 

In  the  same  year  was  issued  at  Amsterdam  by  Pieter 
Stadnitzki  an  announcement,2  or  prospectus,  stating 
that,  together  with  some  friends  of  his,  he  had  com- 
menced the  purchase  of  lands  in  America,  and  offering 
to  all  who  might  desire  an  opportunity  to  become  share- 
holders in  the  enterprise.  He  did  not  name  his  asso- 
ciates or  describe  the  lands,  but  from  the  fact  that  he 
was  a  director  of  the  Holland  Land  Company3  it  is 
evident  that  this  announcement  was  issued  on  behalf  of 
that  company. 

The  announcement  begins  with  the  statement  that  it 
is  well  known  that  great  profits  were  made  by  the  Hol- 
landers through  speculation  in  American  bonds.  "  As 
I,"  says  Stadnitzki,  "  in  opening  the  way  for  the  profits 
of  the  Hollanders  in  the  American  bonds,  have  not  met 

1  The  Holland  Land  Company  (manuscript),  a  paper  read  by  George 
E.  Dawson,  before  the  Chicago  Literary  Club,  January  16,  1899. 

2  Voorafgaand  Bericht,  wegens  eene  negotiatie,  op  landen  in  America  (Pre- 
liminary  announcement   regarding  a  transaction   of  land  in   America), 
Pieter  Stadnitzki,  Amsterdam,  1792.    A  copy  of  this  pamphlet  is  in  the 
Library  of  Congress.   The  translation  has  been  made  by  Mr.  Otto  von 
Klock. 

3  Journals  of  John  Lincklaen,  p.  14.    Stadnitzki's  name  appeared  among 
the  grantees  of  the  Pennsylvania  lands  purchased  for  the  Company. 


THE  HOLLAND  LAND  COMPANY  99 

with  ingratitude,  I  have  the  courage  to  do  the  same  in 
another  branch,  before  increasing  years  have  put  an  end 
to  my  energy  and  powers.  What  I  mean  is,  that  in  this 
same  country  another  operation  can  be  carried  out,  which 
in  even  greater  probability  offers  even  far  greater  pro- 
fits. ...  In  order  to  take  every  precaution,  and  not  to 
expose  the  interests  of  the  shareholders  to  injury  by 
death  or  any  other  unforeseen  occurrence,  I  have  re- 
quested some  acquaintances  of  mine,  who  are  acquainted 
with  American  affairs,  and  people  well  known  on  the 
Beurs,  together  with  a  lawyer  who  is  quite  well  known 
to  the  business  world  (the  latter  on  account  of  the  sales 
contracts  and  titles),  to  act  as  co-directors,  with  my  firm 
as  managing  directors,  to  direct  this  affair,  giving  them 
a  detailed  description  of  my  property.  After  receiving 
the  complete  approbation,  we  have  commenced  the  pur- 
chase of  such  land  as  we  thought  offered  the  most 
profit."  l 

1  Stadnitzki  refers  to  the  recent  extensive  land  speculations  in  America, 
saying  that  many  have  purchased  more  than  they  could  handle,  and  have 
therefore  sent  their  agents  to  Europe  in  order  to  sell.  By  the  reports  of 
these  agents  and  of  some  of  the  purchasers  in  England  and  France,  he 
was  induced,  he  says,  to  investigate.  "  I,  with  some  of  my  friends  (to 
whose  knowledge,  advice,  and  assistance  I  owe  a  great  deal  of  my  deter- 
mination to  embark  on  the  first  mentioned  undertaking  in  the  bonds), 
made  the  resolution  to  send  people  there,  having  the  necessary  knowledge, 
of  whose  good  faith  we  were  assured,  and  who  were  physically  fitted  to 
travel  through  a  land  where  the  laid-out  roads  are  few,  and  to  live  there 
through  the  severest  frost  and  deepest  snow  for  months  at  a  time."  As 
to  the  probable  profits  of  the  undertaking,  he  says  that  if  they  can  sell  in 
the  beginning  at  a  profit  of  25  per  cent,  they  must  be  satisfied.  "  As  far 
as  I  can  judge,  the  last  remaining  lots  of  the  land  .  .  .  can  be  sold  in  10 
or  20  years  for  as  many  guilders  as  they  now  cost  stuivers,  and  I  really 
believe  that  in  making  this  statement  I  am  rather  too  modest  than  too 
bold."  In  this  connection  the  following  passage  from  Paul  fiusti's  Memo- 
rial to  the  New  York  Legislature,  in  1820,  is  of  interest  :  — 

"  The  whole  net  receipts  of  the  Holland  Land  Company,  arising  from 


100  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

Whether  or  not  the  lands  referred  to  in  Stadnitzki's 
announcement  were  Morris's  lands,  the  fact  is  estab- 
lished that  Morris  succeeded  in  making  large  sales  to  the 
Holland  Land  Company.  On  December  24,  1792,  Rob- 
ert Morris  and  Mary,  his  wife,  conveyed  to  Herman  Le 
Roy  and  John  Lincklaen,  as  trustees  for  Wilhem  Wil- 
link,  Nicholas  van  Staphorst,  Pieter  van  Eeghen,  Hen- 
drick  Vollenhoven,  and  Rutger  Jan  Schimmelpenninck, 
1,500,000  acres  of  the  Genesee  lands  in  New  York,  and 
between  that  date  and  the  following  July  conveyed 
enough  more  to  bring  the  number  to  what  was  estimated 
to  be  3,300,000  acres.1  The  title  was  taken  in  the  names 
of  Le  Roy  and  Lincklaen  because  at  that  time  the  laws 
of  New  York  did  not  permit  aliens  to  hold  land  ;  but, 
an  alien  act  having  in  the  mean  time  been  passed,  the 
land  was  afterwards  conveyed  to  the  real  parties  in  in- 
terest, or  to  their  representatives  in  Holland. 

In  addition  to  the  lands  purchased  from  Morris,  which 
embraced  what  is  now  included  in  the  counties  of  Chau- 
tauqua,  Cattaraugus,  Erie,  and  Niagara,  and  parts  of 
Allegheny,  Wyoming,  Genesee,  and  Orleans,  and  for 
which  a  local  agency  and  land  office  was  established  at 
Batavia,  the  Holland  Land  Company  purchased  some 
120,000  acres  in  the  central  part  of  New  York  in  the 

their  lands  in  the  State  of  New  York,  after  paying  expenses,  do  not  ex- 
ceed seven  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  dollars,  affording,  during  the 
twenty-six  years  in  which  their  capital  has  been  thus  employed,  an  aver- 
age interest  of  less  than  one  per  centum  per  annum." 

1  There  were  three  conveyances,  in  two  of  which  Gerrit  Boon  was  joined 
with  Le  Roy  and  Lincklaen.  There  was  also  a  fourth  conveyance  of  300,- 
000  acres,  which  finally  became  vested  in  Wilhem  Willink,  Jr.,  and  Jan 
Willink,  Jr.  See  Turner's  History  of  Holland  Land  Purchase,  Appendix. 
Mr.  Dawson  says  that  the  Holland  Company  paid  "  in  round  numbers 
81,100,000.  At  least  this  is  the  aggregate  of  the  pounds  and  florins  stated 
as  consideration  in  the  respective  deeds." 


THE  HOLLAND  LAND  COMPANY  101 

neighborhood  of  Oldenbarneveld.1  The  local  agency  for 
the  smaller  tract  was  at  Cazenovia. 

A  history  of  the  operations  of  the  Holland  Land  Com- 
pany in  New  York  would  be  aside  from  the  purpose ; 
enough  on  that  subject  has  now  been  said  to  show  the 
magnitude  of  the  Company's  interests  in  that  state,  and 
to  furnish  a  proper  background  for  Mr.  Huidekoper's 
connection  with  the  Company  during  his  years  in  Caze- 
novia and  Oldenbarneveld,  before  his  undertaking  the 
agency  at  Meadville. 

The  interest  of  the  Holland  Land  Company  in  lands 
in  Pennsylvania  would  seem  to  have  followed  naturally 
from  the  possession  of  the  neighboring  tract  of  country 
in  the  adjoining  State.  On  August  21,  1793,  Herman 
Le  Roy  and  William  Bayard,  both  of  the  city  of  New 
York,  as  agents  of  Wilhem  Willink,  Nicholas  van  Stap- 
horst,  Pieter  Stadnitzki,  Christian  van  Eeghen,  Hen- 
drick  Vollenhoven,  and  Rutger  Jan  Schimmelpenninck, 
of  the  city  of  Amsterdam,  who  in  turn  represented  the 
Holland  Land  Company,  entered  into  a  contract  with 
James  Wilson  of  Philadelphia,  one  of  the  judges  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  for  the  purchase 
of  499,660  acres  of  land  situate  on  French  Creek  be- 
tween French  Creek  and  the  River  Allegheny  in  the 
State  of  Pennsylvania.  This  land  was  to  consist  of 
1162  tracts  of  430  acres  each,  for  which  warrants  had 
been  or  were  to  be  taken  out  at  the  Land  Office,  and 
Judge  Wilson  undertook  to  cause  surveys  to  be  made 
and  patents  to  be  issued  to  the  Dutch  purchasers.2 

By  the  year  1800  surveys  had  been  made  and  patents 
had  been  issued  to  Willink  and  his  associates  for  most 

1  Journals  of  John  LincJdaen,  pp.  14,  141. 

1  The  Holland  Land  Company,  by  Alfred  Huidekoper,  Appendix,  p.  351. 


102  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

of  the  1162  tracts.  Almost  from  the  first,  however, 
grave  questions  as  to  the  Company's  title  presented  them- 
selves. These  questions  grew  out  of  the  provision  of  an 
act  of  the  Pennsylvania  General  Assembly,  passed  April 
3,  1792,  under  which  the  warrants  were  issued  and 
which  imposed  important  conditions  as  prerequisite  to 
the  vesting  of  title  to  the  lands. 

By  this  act  the  State  offered  all  the  land  lying  north 
of  the  Ohio  River  and  west  of  the  Allegheny  River  and 
Conewango  Creek,  with  certain  exceptions,  to  persons 
who  should  cultivate,  improve,  and  settle  upon  the  same, 
or  cause  the  same  to  be  cultivated,  improved,  and  set- 
tled, for  the  price  of  seven  pounds  ten  shillings  for  every 
one  hundred  acres,  with  an  allowance  of  six  per  cent  for 
roads.  The  act  provided  for  two  modes  of  acquiring 
title.  One  was  the  purchase  of  a  warrant  at  the  Land 
Office  for  a  tract  of  land  not  to  exceed  four  hundred 
acres,  to  be  surveyed,  payment  of  the  purchase  money 
into  the  State  Treasury  to  be  followed  by  actual  settle- 
ment and  improvement.  The  other  mode  was  by  actual 
settlement  and  improvement,  in  the  first  instance,  pay- 
ment to  be  made  at  a  later  time  after  performance  of  the 
conditions  imposed.  Under  both  modes  a  survey  was 
required  to  be  made  by  the  deputy  surveyor  of  the  dis- 
trict. A  large  number  of  warrants  were  taken  out  on 
behalf  of  the  Holland  Land  Company,  as  well  as  by  other 
capitalists.  Surveys  on  these  warrants  were  made,  gener- 
ally in  1794  and  1795,  and  as  a  consequence  they  would 
have  given  undoubted  titles  but  for  the  terms  of  the 
ninth  section  of  the  act.  This  section  provided  that  no 
warrant  or  survey  should  vest  title  unless  the  grantee  had 
prior  to  the  date  of  the  warrant  made,  or  should  within 
two  years  of  the  date  of  the  same  make,  an  actual  set- 


THE  HOLLAND  LAND  COMPANY  103 

tlement  thereon,  by  clearing,  fencing,  and  cultivating  at 
least  two  acres  for  every  one  hundred  acres  in  the  sur- 
vey, erecting  a  messuage,  and  residing  or  causing  a 
family  to  reside  thereon  for  five  years.  The  section  fur- 
ther provided  that  in  default  of  such  actual  settlement 
and  residence,  it  should  be  lawful  for  the  Commonwealth 
to  issue  new  warrants  to  other  actual  settlers.  This  sec- 
tion concluded  with  an  obscurely  worded  proviso  which 
was  variously  interpreted  by  lawyers,  courts,  and  people, 
and  which  became  the  source  of  litigation,  involving  not 
only  the  lands  claimed  by  the  Holland  Land  Company, 
but  a  large  part  of  all  the  lands  to  which  the  act  ap- 
plied. The  language  of  the  proviso  was  as  follows  : 
"  Provided  always,  nevertheless,  that  if  any  such  actual 
settler,  or  any  grantee,  in  any  such  original  or  succeed- 
ing warrant,  shall,  by  force  of  arms  of  the  enemies  of 
the  United  States,  be  prevented  from  making  such  ac- 
tual settlement,  or  be  driven  therefrom,  and  shall  per- 
sist in  his  endeavors  to  make  such  actual  settlement  as 
aforesaid,  then,  in  either  case,  he  and  his  heirs  shall  be 
entitled  to  have  and  to  hold  the  said  lands,  in  the  same 
manner  as  if  the  actual  settlement  had  been  made  and 
continued." 

As  has  been  seen  in  a  previous  chapter,  the  lands 
along  French  Creek  and  elsewhere  in  the  neighborhood 
of  what  is  at  present  Crawford  County  were  in  1792 
and  1793  subject  to  rumors  of  danger  and  attack  from 
the  Indians.  Indeed,  the  defeat  of  St.  Clairhad  occurred 
only  five  months  before  the  date  of  the  act,  and  a  state 
of  war  continued  until  after  General  Anthony  Wayne's 
successful  campaign  ended  in  a  treaty  of  peace,  which 
was  not  ratified  by  the  United  States  Senate  until  De- 
cember 22,  1795.  During  the  state  of  war  it  was  im- 


104  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

possible  for  the  Holland  Land  Company  or  the  other 
warrant-holders  to  comply  with  the  condition  of  making 
settlement  upon  their  lands.  Under  these  circumstances 
a  number  of  "  intruders,"  as  they  came  to  be  called,  as 
soon  as  the  danger  from  Indians  had  ceased,  seized  upon 
the  Company's  lands  and  refused  to  recognize  its  rights. 
The  ratification  of  the  treaty,  says  Chief  Justice  Agnew, 
in  his  history  of  the  settlement  of  land  titles  of  this 
region,1  "  became  the  first  signal  of  safety  for  entry 
and  settlement  on  these  lands.  Only  a  few  adventurous 
spirits  had  gone  on  before,  chiefly  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
forts.  The  spring  of  1796  became,  therefore,  the  period 
when  the  largest  wave  of  settlement  rose,  and  the  set- 
tlers [intruders]  took  possession."  The  intruders  con- 
tended that  the  owners  of  warrants,  by  reason  of  failure 
to  make  actual  settlement,  had  forfeited  their  titles,  and 
that  their  lands  were  open  to  settlement.  Where  lawyers 
disagreed,  it  was  not  to  be  expected  that  eager  pioneers 
should  hold  back,  and  the  inflowing  tide  overwhelmed 
the  whole  country,  the  newcomers  sitting  down  upon 
the  lands  which  they  selected  without  respect  to  the  sur- 
veys made  on  the  warrants. 

In  some  instances  the  intruders  were  honest  in  their 
belief  that  the  lands  were  open  to  them ;  in  more  they 
were  the  dupes  of  men  who  had  an  interest  in  placing 
them  upon  the  disputed  lands ;  in  many  cases  they  were 
adventurers  who  were  quite  willing  to  pick  up  a  few 
acres  lawfully  or  unlawfully,  it  mattered  not.  Once  on 
the  land  all  kinds  made  common  cause  against  the  capi- 
talists. Their  resistance  was  at  its  height  in  1802.  "  At 


i 


A  History  of  the  Region  of  Pennsylvania  North  of  the  Ohio  and  West  of 
the  Allegheny  River,  etc.,  by  Hon.  Daniel  Agnew,  Philadelphia,  1887, 
p.  122. 


THE  HOLLAND  LAND  COMPANY        105 

that  period,"  wrote  Mr.  Huidekoper  to  Mr.  Busti  (Jan- 
uary 1,  1805),  "  the  intruders  were  a  regular  combina- 
tion to  oppose  the  warranties  [warrantees].  They  had 
their  stated  town  meetings  to  consult  about  their  af- 
fairs, and  these  again  chose  deputies  who  attended  their 
general  county  or  district  meetings,  where  the  plans  of 
oppositions  were  organized,  assessments  made,  counsel 
appointed,  and  every  step  taken  that  would  insure  suc- 
cess to  their  lawless  plans."  Just  a  little  before  the  time 
of  Mr.  Huidekoper' s  arrival  in  Meadville  a  plot  had  been 
formed  to  shoot  Judge  Addison,  a  state  judge,  blow  up 
the  prothonotary's  office  and  the  several  land  offices  of 
Meadville  and  Erie,  destroy  the  county  records,  and  drive 
off  or  kill  the  agents.  Fortunately  one  of  the  conspir- 
ators came  to  his  senses  in  time  to  withdraw  from  the 
plot,  and  also  to  persuade  his  fellow  plotters  to  give  up 
their  design.  This  was  perhaps  one  of  the  last  desperate 
efforts  at  combination  on  the  part  of  the  intruders,  for 
Mr.  Huidekoper  wrote  of  them  in  December,  1804: 
"  They  no  more  meet  to  consult  about  their  mutual  in- 
terests ;  they  no  more  make  contributions  to  support  the 
common  cause ;  every  one  now  stands  single  against  the 
Company,  and  all  are  sensible  that  a  suit  in  the  Federal 
Court  draws  certain  ruin  after  it." 

Three  views  as  to  the  rights  of  the  respective  claim- 
ants were  held  by  different  persons.  The  intruders  con- 
tended that  the  warrant-holders  had  forfeited  their  rights 
and  that  the  warrants  were  "  dead."  This  extreme  view 
never  found  judicial  support.  The  warrant-holders,  on 
the  other  hand,  contended  "  that  the  condition  of  settle- 
ment, being  subsequent,  was  absolutely  gone  by  the  pre- 
vention of  the  enemies  of  the  United  States  (the  Indians), 
and  by  their  [the  warrant-holders']  persistence  to  settle 


106  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

within  the  two  years."  *  This  view,  as  will  be  seen,  was 
sustained  by  Chief  Justice  Marshall  in  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States.  An  intermediate  view,  however, 
was  held  by  the  legal  profession  in  the  western  part  of 
the  State,  and  their  view  prevailed  in  the  state  courts. 
This  intermediate  view  was  "  that  neither  the  warrants 
were  void,  nor  the  condition  of  settlement  gone ;  but 
that  the  latter  was  only  suspended  until  the  prevention 
ceased,  which  ended  with  the  ratification  of  the  treaty 
of  peace  on  the  22d  December,  1795 ;  and  then,  resuming 
its  force,  the  warrantees  had  two  years,  viz.,  until  the 
22d  December,  1797,  to  perform  the  condition  by  mak- 
ing the  required  settlement,  etc."  2 

Down  to  about  the  year  1800  the  officers  of  the  Land 
Office  and  the  Board  of  Property  held  that  the  con- 
dition of  settlement  was  extinguished  by  the  prevention 
caused  by  the  Indian  war,  and  a  persistence  to  make 
settlement  during  the  two  years  from  the  date  of  the 
warrants.  As  there  was  evidence  that  the  Holland  Com- 
pany had  persisted  in  its  endeavors  to  make  actual  settle- 
ment, the  Board  of  Property  issued  to  the  Company  876 
patents,  or  "  prevention  patents,"  as  such  patents  came 
to  be  called.  A  change  of  administration,  however, 
occurred  in  1799,  when  Thomas  McKean  succeeded 
Thomas  Mifflin  as  governor,  and  under  the  new  admin- 
istration the  Board  of  Property  adopted  the  intermediate 
view  of  the  effect  of  the  saving  proviso,  and  held  that 
the  Indian  war  merely  suspended  the  condition  requiring 
settlement.  In  consequence  of  this  change  of  front,  the 
secretary  of  the  Land  Office  refused  to  issue  further 
prevention  patents  to  the  Holland  Company.3 

1  Apnew,  History  of  the  Region,  etc.,  p.  123. 
3  Ibid.  pp.  123,  124. 
«  Ibid.  pp.  126,  127. 


THE  HOLLAND  LAND  COMPANY  107 

The  earnestness  of  the  efforts  of  the  Holland  Land 
Company  to  occupy,  improve,  and  settle  the  lands  in 
performance  of  the  onerous  conditions  resting  upon 
their  title  appears  from  the  following  summary : 1  As 
soon  after  the  dates  of  the  warrants  as  deputy  sur- 
veyors could  be  prevailed  upon  to  attempt  to  execute 
the  surveys,  in  the  years  1794  and  1795,  a  general 
agent  was  appointed  to  superintend  the  business  of  the 
Company,  a  large  store  was  built  at  Cussewago,  or 
Meadville,  and  more  than  $5000  was  disbursed.  In 
1796  companies  of  settlers  were  invited  and  engaged ; 
ample  supplies  of  provisions,  implements,  utensils,  etc., 
were  sent  into  the  country;  the  expense  of  transport- 
ing families  was  liberally  advanced ;  a  bounty  of  one 
hundred  acres  was  given  for  improving  and  settling 
each  tract;  and  a  further  sum  of  $22,000  was  dis- 
bursed. In  1797  about  $60,000  more  was  expended 
in  promoting  the  same  objects,  including  payments  on 
contracts  for  settlement,  and  quieting  adverse  claims. 
In  1798  mills  were  erected,  roads  were  opened,  and 
other  exertions  were  made  at  an  expense  of  not  less 
than  $30,000.  In  1799  $40,000  and  upwards  was  ex- 
pended in  further  improvements  and  settlements,  in 
salaries  and  wages  of  agents  and  workmen,  in  opening 
and  repairing  roads,  and  in  patenting  eight  hundred 
and  seventy-six  tracts.  In  1800  the  operations  and  ad- 
vances were  at  least  equal  to  those  of  any  preceding 
year.  In  short,  at  the  close  of  1800  the  Company  had 
expended  nearly  $400,000. 

In  the  litigation  which  ensued  upon  the  refusal  to 
issue  prevention  patents  the  Holland  Company  took 
the  initiative.  Its  first  step  was  to  institute  proceed- 

1  Commonwealth  v.  Tench  Coxe,  4  Dallas  Rep.  170. 


108  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

ings  by  mandamus  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  Com- 
monwealth against  the  secretary  of  the  Land  Office,  to 
compel  him  to  issue  the  prevention  patents  for  which 
the  Company  had  applied.1  This  case  furnishes  a  full 
history  of  the  controversy  between  the  warrantees  and 
the  settlers.  The  court  adopted,  although  not  unani- 
mously,2 the  intermediate  view,  holding  that  every  war- 
rant-holder must  cause  a  settlement  to  be  made  within 
two  years  from  the  date  of  his  warrant,  to  be  followed 
by  a  residence  for  five  years,  on  pain  of  forfeiture ;  but 
that  if  he  should  be  interrupted  or  obstructed  by  ex- 
ternal force  in  so  doing  within  the  limited  periods,  and 
should  afterwards  persevere  in  his  efforts  within  a  rea- 
sonable time  after  the  removal  of  such  force  until  these 
objects  should  be  accomplished,  no  advantage  of  him 
should  be  taken  for  want  of  a  successive  continuation 
of  his  settlement. 

This  decision,  however,  was  only  the  beginning  of 
the  controversy.  The  Assembly  now  intervened,  and  on 
April  2,  1802,  passed  an  act  to  raise  what  was  known 
as  the  "  Feigned  Issue,"  to  try  the  question  in  dispute. 
By  this  act  the  Supreme  Court  of  Pennsylvania  was 
required  to  meet  and  devise  a  form  of  action  for  try- 
ing the  question  whether  or  not  the  warrants  were  void 
against  the  Commonwealth  by  reason  of  non-settlement ; 
and  whether  grants  of  the  Land  Office  were  good,  if 
founded  upon  "prevention  certificates"  given  by  jus- 
tices of  the  peace,  without  other  evidence  of  the  nature 

1  Commonwealth  v.  Tench  Coxe,  supra. 

*  Chief  Justice  Shippen  sustained  the  contention  of  the  warrantees, 
holding  that  if  they  had  been  prevented  from  complying  with  the  terms 
of  the  law  by  the  actual  force  of  the  enemy,  as  they  had  justly  paid  for 
the  land,  they  were  entitled  to  their  patents. 


THE  HOLLAND  LAND  COMPANY  109 

and  circumstances  being  given.1  The  questions  of  law 
and  fact  were  to  be  decided  by  the  judges  and  a  jury, 
and  it  was  made  competent  for  the  jury,  under  direction 
of  the  court,  to  decide  upon  the  law  and  the  facts,  and, 
if  they  thought  proper,  to  bring  in  a  general  verdict. 
The  case2  was  made  up  and  was  heard  ex  parte,  the 
Holland  Land  Company,  although  notified,  declining 
to  appear,  being  unwilling,  in  view  of  the  adverse  posi- 
tion already  taken  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  state 
in  the  mandamus  case,  as  well  as  of  the  bias  against 
them  to  be  expected  from  the  jury,  to  submit  to  the 
jurisdiction.3  Chief  Justice  Shippen,  who  had  given 
the  dissenting  opinion  in  the  mandamus  case,  did  not 
attend,  probably  thinking  it  useless  to  do  so,  and  the 
decision  of  the  court,  delivered  by  Judge  Yeates,  who 
had  delivered  the  opinion  of  the  court  in  the  man- 
damus case,  followed  in  the  line  of  his  former  opinion. 
The  result  of  the  trial  of  the  "  Feigned  Issue  "  was  a 
general  verdict  by  the  jury  for  the  plaintiff,  and  judg- 
ment was  rendered  in  favor  of  the  Attorney-General 
and  against  the  grantees. 

1  In  1797  the  Board  of  Property  had  prepared  a  form  of  certificate 
to  be  signed  by  the  deputy  surveyor,  district  judge,  or  two  justices  of 
the  peace  residing  in  the  vicinity  of  the  land,  as  a  means  of  proving 
prevention  from  making  settlement  upon  application  for  a  patent.  This 
form  had  been  approved  by  the  attorney-general,  and  upon  such  cer- 
tificate prevention  patents  were  issued  up  to  the  change  in  the  Board  of 
Property. 

2  Attorney-General  v.  The  Grantees  under  the  Act  of  April,  1792, 4  Dal- 
las Rep.  237. 

3  The  reasons  for  not  embracing  this  opportunity  to  discuss  the  subject 
were  diplomatically  stated  by  the  counsel  of  the  Holland  Company  in  a 
letter  addressed  to  the  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court.   They  were  in  brief 
that  they  considered  that  the  abstract  questions  proposed  for  decision 
would  leave  untouched  and  undecided  the  great  and  essential  part  of  the 
controversy.   The  letter  was  signed  by  J.  Ingersoll,  W.  Lewis,  and  A.  J. 
Dallas. 


110  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

It  was  fortunate  for  the  Holland  Land  Company  that 
by  reason  of  foreign  citizenship  they  were  able  in  con- 
troversies with  citizens  of  Pennsylvania  to  resort  to  the 
Federal  Court.1  An  action  in  ejectment  was  accordingly 
brought  in  the  Circuit  Court  of  the  United  States,  enti- 
tled Huidekoper's  Lessee  v.  Douglass,2  the  plaintiff 
claiming  under  Mr.  Huidekoper,  who  made  title  under 
the  trustees  of  the  Company,  to  whom  a  patent  had  been 
issued  under  a  warrant  and  survey,  and  the  defendant 
claiming  as  an  actual  settler.  In  order  to  test  the  mat- 
ter fully,  the  questions,  upon  which  the  opinions  of  the 
judges  were  opposed,  were  submitted  by  the  Circuit 
Court  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  and 
in  this  higher  court  the  contention  of  the  Holland  Com- 
pany was  completely  sustained.3  The  opinion,  which 
was  delivered  by  Chief  Justice  Marshall,  held  that  a 
warrantee  who  by  force  of  arms  was  prevented  from 
settling  and  improving  for  two  years  from  the  date  of 
his  warrant,  but  who  during  that  time  persisted  in  his 
endeavors  to  do  so,  was  excused  from  making  settlement 
and  that  the  warrant  vested  title  in  fee  simple.  In  ac- 
cordance with  this  authoritative  construction  of  the  law, 
the  case  was  afterwards  tried  in  the  lower  court,  and  a 
verdict  was  rendered  in  favor  of  the  plaintiff. 

1  A  law  empowering  aliens  to  purchase  and  hold  land  within  the  Com- 
monwealth was  in  force  at  the  time  of  the  Company's  purchase  in  1793. 
Appendix,  p.  354. 

While  Huidekoper's  Lessee  v.  Douglass,  in  which  E.  Tilghman  was  of 
counsel,  was  still  pending,  Mr.  Huidekoper  wrote  to  Mr.  Busti  (February 
2,  1805)  :  "  Every  day  I  feel  more  the  necessity  of  being  a  citizen  of  the 
United  States  in  order  to  be  authorized  to  join  with  some  honest  men 
here  in  opposition  to  this  system  of  plunder.  Pray  consult  Tilghman, 
whether  there  is  any  objection  to  me  being  naturalized  on  account  of  the 
suits  that  are  depending." 

8  4  Dallas  Rep.  392.  8  3  Cranch  Rep.  1. 


THE  HOLLAND  LAND  COMPANY  111 

In  the  course  of  his  opinion  Marshall  used  the  fol- 
lowing language,  which  gave  peculiar  satisfaction  to 
Mr.  Huidekoper,  who,  in  writing  to  Mr.  Busti,  called  it 
"  a  pretty  severe  rub,"  which  "  would  make  our  repre- 
sentatives blush,  if  they  were  made  of  blushing  mate- 
rials." "  The  State,"  said  the  chief  justice,  "  is  in  the 
situation  of  a  person  who  holds  forth  to  the  world  the 
conditions  on  which  he  is  willing  to  sell  his  property. 
If  he  should  couch  his  propositions  in  such  ambiguous 
terms  that  they  might  be  understood  differently,  in  con- 
sequence of  which  sales  were  to  be  made,  and  the  pur- 
chase money  paid,  he  would  come  with  an  ill  grace  into 
court,  to  insist  on  a  latent  and  obscure  meaning,  which 
should  give  him  back  his  property,  and  permit  him  to 
retain  the  purchase  money.  All  those  principles  of 
equity,  and  of  fair  dealing,  which  constitute  the  basis 
of  judicial  proceedings,  require  that  courts  should  lean 
against  such  a  construction." 

The  Holland  Land  Company  seems  to  have  relied 
firmly  and  successfully  on  the  decision  in  its  favor  in 
the  United  States  Supreme  Court.1  "  Some  of  the  con- 
temporaneous judges,"  says  Mr.  Alfred  Huidekoper,2 
"  and  later  ones  chafed  at  the  thought  that  a  decision 
of  the  national  court  should  dominate  over  that  of  a 
state  court  in  the  construing  of  a  provincial  law.  But, 
as  one  of  the  state  judges  naively  said,  what  could  the 
state  courts  do  when,  if  they  put  a  man  into  possession 
one  day,  the  national  courts  should  turn  him  out  the 
next  ?  "  Mr.  Huidekoper,  in  the  autobiography,  says  of 
Marshall's  decision,  "  It  gradually  restored  peace  to  the 
country,  and  by  a  couple  of  years  of  exertion,  those  intru- 
sions, so  formidable  when  I  entered  on  the  agency,  were 
reduced  to  a  few  scattering,  isolated  cases." 

1  Appendix,  p.  363.  a  Appendix,  p.  361. 


112  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

How  strong  were  the  equities  of  the  Company,  rest- 
ing upon  its  exertions  and  expenditures,  has  already 
been  shown.  Judge  Yeates,  in  the  mandamus  case,  in 
which  he  ruled  against  the  Company,  characterized  what 
they  had  done  as  "  honorable  to  themselves,  and  useful 
to  the  community,"  and  was  forced  to  admit  that  "  on 
the  head  of  merit,  in  the  Holland  Land  Company's 
sparing  no  expense  to  procure  settlements,  I  believe 
there  are  few  dissenting  voices  beyond  the  mountains ; 
and  one  would  be  induced  to  conclude  that  a  variety  of 
united,  equitable  circumstances  would  not  fail  to  pro- 
duce a  proper  degree  of  influence  on  the  public  will  of 
the  community."  That  such  considerations  should  have 
appealed  with  overwhelming  force  to  a  man  of  Mr. 
Huidekoper's  high  sense  of  justice,  even  had  the  inter- 
est of  his  principals  not  been  involved,  was  inevitable, 
and  there  was  perhaps  another  consideration  which 
affected  him  even  more.  He  deeply  felt  that  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Holland  Company,  who  had  come  to  the  aid 
of  the  country  in  the  darkest  hour  of  its  struggle  for 
independence,  and  who  were  now  endeavoring  to  save 
from  practical  confiscation  the  very  moneys  which  had 
perhaps  assured  the  existence  of  the  republic,  had  moral 
rights  which  ought  to  outweigh  every  other  considera- 
tion, and  that  the  honor  of  the  nation  was  at  stake. 

A  few  extracts  from  letters  written  by  him  during 
this  time  of  uncertainty  will  show  the  intensity  of  his 
feeling  and  give  a  nearer  view  of  his  difficulties.  In  a 
communication  sent  by  him  to  Mr.  Busti  on  the  day  of 
assuming  his  new  duties  he  wrote  :  — 

[January  1,  1805.]  At  the  period  on  which  I  enter 
on  the  functions  of  the  agency  entrusted  by  you  to  my 
care  it  may  not  be  improper  to  present  to  you  a  sketch 


THE  HOLLAND  LAND  COMPANY  113 

of  the  situation  of  the  different  settlements  which  com- 
pose my  administration.  .  .  . 

General  remarks.  The  West  Allegheny  country,  with 
a  soil  which  in  point  of  quality  is  inferior  [to]  no  body 
of  land  of  the  same  dimension  in  the  state,  offers  a 
picture  of  wretchedness  which  I  have  never  seen  equalled 
in  America.  The  manner  in  which  it  was  settled  drew 
first  to  these  parts  the  outcast  of  the  older  settlements, 
and  the  disputes  that  have  since  existed  have  deterred 
the  more  decent  and  wealthy  farmers  from  emigrating 
to  this  country.  In  the  general  uncertainty  of  the  title, 
the  right  of  possession  was  looked  upon  as  being  the 
only  important  point  to  be  attended  to ;  and  as  there 
existed  great  doubt  as  to  the  final  issue  of  the  contest, 
everyone  seemed  determined  to  have  as  little  at  stake  as 
possible.  The  improvements  were  nearly  entirely  neg- 
lected, as  you  may  see  by  Mr.  Alden's  report  of  1802, 
and  a  general  want  of  industry  took  possession  of  the 
inhabitants,  who  have  been  punished  by  the  never  fail- 
ing companions  of  indolence,  vice  and  poverty.  What 
little  is  raised  by  the  farmers  on  their  badly  cultivated 
fields  is  barely  sufficient  to  keep  them  from  starving, 
and  to  complete  their  ruin,  their  litigious  disposition 
embroils  them  in  innumerable  lawsuits,  the  consequences 
of  which  are  always  fatal  to  both  parties. 

Nothing  is  as  yet  exported  from  this  quarter,  and  every- 
thing which  is  imported  comes  to  a  very  high  price  by 
the  transportation,  and  these  are  the  reasons  of  that 
total  want  of  cash  which  I  have  mentioned,  and  which 
is  so  great  that  I  travelled  seventy  miles  along  the  most 
public  road  in  this  country  without  finding  anybody  that 
could  change  me  a  five  dollar  bill.  This  also  accounts 
for  the  enormous  prices  which  we  have  to  pay  here  for 
every  thing,  —  of  which  you  will  be  able  to  judge  when 
I  tell  you  that  my  boarding  comes  here  to  nearly  the  same 
that  I  paid  in  Philadelphia  and  that  horse-keeping  is 
about  $3.00  a  week  for  every  horse.  For  everything 
else  we  pay  in  proportion.  .  .  . 


114  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

I  feel  for  the  interest  of  the  proprietors,  and  the 
picture  I  have  drawn  is  not  very  engaging.  It  is  only 
since  I  have  become  a  little  more  acquainted  with  the 
true  situation  of  the  affairs  here  that  I  feel  the  full  ex- 
tent of  the  difficulties  which  I  shall  have  to  encounter ; 
they  are  such  as  have  caused  me  many  a  disagreeable 
thought  already,  and  if  the  lawsuit  should  not  terminate 
in  our  favor  I  shall  have  a  far  more  arduous  task  than 
I  ever  had  any  idea  of.  I  am  not,  however,  disheartened, 
and  shall  do  everything  in  my  power  to  give  to  the 
business  here  a  happier  turn,  sure  that  if  I  should  not 
succeed  both  you  and  the  proprietors  are  too  just  to  re- 
quire from  me  a  success  which  it  was  not  in  my  power 
to  insure. 

A  little  before  this,  he  had  written  to  Mr.  Busti :  — 

[November  19,  1804.]  Maslin,  who  happened  to  be 
here,  told  me  that  the  case  of  Douglass  was  one  of  the 
strongest  against  the  Company,  as  there  has  been  no 
settlement  on  our  part.  I  can  assure  you  that  I  shall 
not  feel  easy  till  I  know  the  result  and  that  I  cannot 
help  feeling  some  fear  from  the  known  sentiments  of 
Judge  Washington.1 

[December  11,  1804.]  I  shall  call  this  evening  on 
Judge  Mead  to  get  the  names  of  the  patentees  and  the 
dates  of  the  patents,  copies  of  which  I  suppose  may  be 
of  great  use  in  the  trial  of  February  next.  If  I  am  not 
mistaken,  these  patents,  issued  before  the  cessation  of 
the  prevention,  will  bring  the  judges  in  a  dilemma  in 
case  they  should  wish  to  coincide  in  the  opinion  of 
Washington,  for  in  that  case  they  would  either  have 
to  decide  that  it  was  incumbent  on  a  warrantee  to  be 
better  acquainted  with  the  laws  of  his  country  than 

1  In  the  Circuit  Court  the  case  came  before  Washington,  J.,  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  and  Peters,  District  Judge.  In  another  case  the  former 
had  delivered  a  charge  coinciding  with  the  construction  adopted  hy  the 
state  court,  from  which  the  latter  had  dissented. 


THE  HOLLAND  LAND  COMPANY        115 

the  constituted  authorities  (a  doctrine  which  I  suppose 
Federal  judges  will  not  allow),  or  they  must  decide 
that  the  state  has  a  right  to  take  advantage  of  its  own 
wrong. 

[December  5,  1804.]  I  am  glad  to  see  that  you  are 
permitted  to  send  a  counsellor  to  plead  the  Company's 
cause  at  the  bar  of  the  Supreme  Court,  for  from  your 
first  letter  I  was  led  to  believe  that  only  a  statement  of 
the  case  would  be  drawn  up  and  submitted  to  the  judges. 
The  equity  of  the  Company's  claim  and  the  inequity  of 
our  persecutors'  will  then  be  submitted  to  the  court, 
and  tho'  I  believe  it  is  a  mere  court  of  justice,  without 
equity  powers,  yet  the  judges  are  men,  and  as  such  the 
hardship  of  our  case  cannot  but  make  a  favorable  im- 
pression in  the  Company's  favor.1 

The  glimpse  of  Douglass,  in  the  following  letter  to 
Mr.  Busti,  almost  suggests  the  old-time  outlaw  of  ballad 
and  romance,  for  its  mixture  of  audacity  with  stubborn 
defiance. 

[February  12,  1805.]  Douglass  called  on  me  to  in- 
form me  that  he  was  going  to  jail,  being  sent  there  by 
the  intruder  who  sold  him  the  tract  on  which  his  family 
lives ;  he  offered  to  sell  me  his  claim  to  the  land  in  dis- 
pute, and  on  my  refusal  to  the  purchase  asked  me  to 
loan  him  $100  for  which  he  offered  modestly  to  secure 
me  by  a  mortgage  on  the  land  in  dispute  between  us. 
This  wretch  seemed  perfectly  insensible  to  his  own  sit- 
uation and  that  of  his  family  ;  tho'  within  a  few  hours 
of  being  shut  up  in  jail,  and  his  family  in  the  utmost 
misery,  he  was  quite  cheerful  and  communicative ;  he 
informed  me  with  seeming  pride  that  more  than  one  half 
of  all  trouble  which  the  Company  has  experienced  was 
owing  to  him,  that  he  had  sacrificed  his  whole  fortune 

1  The  questions  were  argued  in  the  Supreme  Court  by  E.  Tilghroan, 
Ingersoll,  Lewis  and  Dallas,  for  the  plaintiff,  and  by  M'Kean,  Attorney 
General  of  Pennsylvania,  and  W.  Tilghman,  for  the  defendant. 


116  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

in  the  cause  of  opposition,  and  had  never  received  more 
than  $7.50  for  all  his  trouble  and  for  travelling  of  3000 
miles  at  different  times,  he  bearing  his  own  expenses. 
He  told  me  further,  and  this  was  more  interesting,  that 
now  everyone  had  abandoned  him,  that  such  a  spirit  of 
egotism  prevailed  that  no  actual  settler  would  give  two- 
pence to  save  his  companion  in  opposition,  and  that  the 
Fosters  had  sold  them  to  the  Company.  All  the  chiefs 
of  the  intruders  are  at  war  with  one  another,  and  ah* 
will  be  involved  in  one  common  ruin  if  the  court  doth 
not  immediately  take  all  the  lands  from  the  Company. 
Since  two  years  a  number  of  the  intruders  have  gone 
down  the  river  to  Louisiana,  the  great  Botany  Bay  of 
America,  and  as  soon  as  the  river  opens  it  is  expected 
that  a  number  more  will  skip  off  for  that  land  of 
promise.  On  the  other  hand  several  settlers  have  in- 
formed me  that  they  expect  in  the  spring  some  of  their 
friends  will  come  up  and  purchase.  This  will  brighten 
our  prospects,  and  if  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  U.  S. 
should  decide  in  our  favor,  then  I  am  confident  that  our 
exertions  will  succeed,  and  that  in  a  short  time  every 
shadow  of  opposition  will  be  done  away.  God  give  I 
may  live  to  see  that  day. 

To  J.  J.  Van  der  Kemp  he  wrote  (March  13,  1805) : 
"You  flatter  me  with  a  favorable  decision  in  the  Federal 
Court.  .  .  .  When  I  read  over  the  Law  [of]  1792,  I 
do  not  see  how  a  decision  can  go  against  us.  I  have 
other  reasons  from  which  I  may  forebode  happy  news 
by  next  mail,  and  yet  notwithstanding  all  this  I  am  very 
uneasy  .  .  .  and  I  willingly  would  purchase  to-day  at  the 
expense  of  some  hundred  dollars  the  certainty  that  the 
Company  has  at  length  finally  triumphed.  ...  To  see 
my  expectations  all  blasted  now  that  I  have  the  prospect 
of  getting  everything  on  a  good  footing  here  would  be 
more  than  I  could  bear." 


THE  HOLLAND  LAND  COMPANY  117 

Another  fertile  source  of  controversy  with  which  he 
had  to  contend  was  the  rapacity  of  the  taxing  officers, 
and  the  tendency  of  the  assessors  to  place  an  undue  bur- 
den upon  non-residents.  As  early  as  December  18, 1804, 
he  had  written :  "  The  system  of  taxation  is  on  a  wretched 
footing  in  this  state,  and  the  commissioners  are  a  kind 
of  bird  of  prey  that  devour  a  great  part  of  the  money. 
They  are  allowed  a  certain  sum  for  every  day  they  spend 
in  arranging  the  fiscal  concerns  of  the  country,  and  one 
of  this  honest  brotherhood  in  Westmoreland  actually 
delivered  an  account  of  385  days  labor  done  by  him 
as  commissioner  in  one  year.  I  shall  try  to  get  perfectly 
acquainted  with  the  system  of  taxation,  as  I  am  fully 
sensible  of  the  utility  which  will  result  to  myself  and 
the  Company  from  a  knowledge  of  this  subject." 

His  confidence,  however,  in  his  power  to  deal  with 
the  situation  even  at  its  worst,  was  not  impaired.  On 
March  13,  1805,  he  wrote  to  Mr.  Busti :  — 

Whatever  may  be  the  decision  [of  the  United  States 
Supreme  Court]  I  hope  that  you  will  not  find  yourself 
obliged  to  follow  strictly  your  orders  from  Holland  in 
abandoning  the  whole  of  the  West  Allegheny  lands.  A 
part  and  even  a  great  part  will  be  lost  if  the  decision 
of  Judge  Washington  be  confirmed,  but  still  there  will 
be  enough  that  will  be  worth  saving,  and  that  can  be 
secured  without  drawing  any  money  from  you,  and  all 
this  would  be  lost,  as  well  as  [a]  great  part  of  the  out- 
standing debts,  if  the  whole  was  abandoned.  .  .  . 

I  sincerely  regret  that  the  Dutch  Proprietors  are  so 
much  discouraged  and  that  they  set  no  value  on  their 
property  in  Pennsylvania ;  I  acknowledge  that  the  specu- 
lation was  a  bad  one,  but  now  that  it  is  made  I  do  not 
see  that  the  whole  is  lost.  Lincklaen's  and  Mappa's  set- 
tlements were  long  unproductive,  and  swallowed  up  im- 


118  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

mense  sums ;  after  eight  or  ten  years  they  have  begun 
to  give  a  dividend,  and  tho'  it  is  highly  doubtful  whether 
they  will  ever  repay  the  money  vested  in  them,  yet  a 
great  deal  will  come  back.  The  East  Allegheny  lands 
[have]  but  just  begun  to  settle  and  cannot  be  made  pro- 
ductive in  one  year;  the  prosperity  of  the  \V.  A.  [West 
Allegheny]  has  been  impeded  by  the  dispute,  but  if  that 
should  be  done  away  by  a  lucky  decision,  then  I  am  in 
hopes  that  the  proprietors  will  soon  reap  some  income 
from  their  dear  bought  property,  especially  from  that 
part  which  is  under  my  direction.  I  consider  that  the 
worst  is  over  now  and  that  a  little  patience  and  persever- 
ance are  only  necessary  in  order  to  see  things  assume  a 
better  aspect. 

In  an  earlier  letter  (February  26,  1805),  he  had  writ- 
ten quite  as  emphatically  :  "  Pray  dissuade  our  Dutch 
friends  from  all  ideas  of  abandoning  the  West  Alle- 
gheny lands  totally  whatever  may  be  the  result  of  the 
trial.  I  shall  take  care  that  they  have  no  further  dis- 
bursements on  this  account  and  that  as  much  as  possible 
be  saved  to  them.  To  abandon  would  not  free  them  from 
the  obligations  incurred,  but  would  make  them  lose  all 
the  benefits  that  might  be  reaped.  If  the  lawsuits  be 
completely  gained,  I  will  engage  to  bring  everything  in 
order  in  18  months  or  two  years ;  if  the  suits  are  com- 
pletely lost,  I  shall  still  have  something  worth  saving." 

The  winning  of  the  test  case  called  forth,  in  the  fol- 
lowing letter  to  Mr.  Busti,  a  strong  expression  of  relief. 
Mr.  Huidekoper  was  not  a  man  lightly  to  "  thank  hea- 
ven "  or,  as  in  a  former  letter,  in  expressing  his  confi- 
dence of  the  result,  to  exclaim,  "  God  give  I  may  live  to 
see  that  day." 

[March  20,  1805.]  At  length,  thank  heaven,  my  fears 
have  been  disappointed,  and  we  have  gained  our  cause, 


THE  HOLLAND  LAND  COMPANY  119 

and  have  gained  it  in  such  a  manner  as  promises  to  put 
a  speedy  end  to  all  litigation  in  this  part  of  the  country. 
The  decision  doth  honor  to  the  judges,  and  shows  that 
they  dare  be  independent  even  in  this  time  of  persecu- 
tion. The  remark  of  the  judges,  that  it  would  ill  become 
an  individual  to  act  in  the  manner  our  Legislature  tries 
to  do,  is  a  pretty  severe  rub,  and  would  make  our  repre- 
sentatives blush,  if  they  were  made  of  blushing  materials. 
It  is  such  a  short  time  since  the  news  reached  this  place 
that  I  cannot  state  with  precision  what  impression  it 
has  made  in  general ;  in  this  place  and  the  neighborhood 
the  joy  has  been  pretty  universal,  and  those  of  our  ene- 
mies which  have  come  under  my  observation  appear 
completely  chop-fallen.  I  shall  try  to  improve  the  mo- 
ment and  remove  if  possible  all  contention.  I  take  every 
opportunity  to  circulate  my  wish  to  prevent  the  intruders 
being  ruined  by  lawsuits,  and  I  declare  myself  always 
willing  to  settle  in  an  amicable  manner  with  everybody, 
as  well  those  that  have  been  ejected  as  those  that  have 
not ;  the  former  must  come  in,  however,  within  ten  days, 
for  when  once  the  trials  have  begun  it  would  be  impru- 
dent to  meddle  with  them  here.  .  .  . 

Till  now  I  have  not  given  a  single  acre  of  gratuity, 
and  I  hope  you  will  not  charge  me  to  give  any  in  future. 
Giving  land  has  two  bad  consequences ;  it  retards  the 
sales  or  lowers  the  prices,  and  it  brings  or  keeps  a  set 
of  lazy  vagrants  in  the  country,  whom  it  is  absolutely 
necessary  to  get  rid  of  as  soon  as  possible.  I  sell  on 
reasonable  terms,  that  is,  from  $2  to  $3J  per  acre. 
The  purchase  money  is  subject  to  interest  from  the  day 
of  sale,  and  the  payments  must  be  made  in  six  or  eight 
annual  instalments,  the  first  of  which  usually  commences 
one  year  after  the  sale.  .  .  . 

The  late  decision  will  contribute  considerably  to  the 
population  of  Canada  or  Louisiana;  the  night  after  the 
decision  arrived,  Dr.  Kennedy's  canoe  was  stolen  and 
went  down  the  river.  Yesterday  another  attempt  was 
made  to  take  another  canoe  belonging  to  this  town.  .  .  . 


120  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

Mr.  Douglass  sent  for  me  to  the  gaol,  and  to  my  sorrow 
I  found  him  the  same  determined  unrelenting  rascal  that 
he  has  always  been.  The  miseries  of  his  family  seem  lost 
upon  him,  and  he  threatens  to  give  us  further  trouble 
the  moment  he  gets  out  of  prison.  I  intended  this  morn- 
ing to  intercede  for  him,  and  devise  means  to  save  some 
of  the  expenses  which  remain  to  be  made  before  we  get 
possession,  but  I  see  nothing  will  do  but  to  leave  him  to 
all  the  rigors  of  the  law. 

After  the  termination  of  the  Douglass  case  Mr.  Busti 
continued  to  urge,  uneasily,  the  granting  of  special 
terms  to  the  intruders.  That  this  course  would  only 
prolong  the  struggle  and  produce  bad  feelings  through- 
out the  settlements  Mr.  Huidekoper  plainly  foresaw. 
His  sole  chance  for  securing  a  speedy  pacification  of 
the  contending  parties  lay  in  dealing  equally  with  all 
and  in  impressing  upon  them  the  fact  that  the  law  would 
be  enforced.  This  reply  to  Mr.  Busti's  suggestions 
illustrates  the  point. 

[March  26, 1805.]  One  part  of  your  advice  I  will  re- 
ligiously follow,  and  have  already  followed  it.  I  consider 
the  intruders  perfectly  with  indifference  and  treat  them 
[like]  any  other  strangers  that  applied  to  me  for  the 
purchase  of  land.  I  do  not  in  the  least  take  it  in  con- 
sideration what  improvements  they  have  made,  but  sell 
them  the  land  as  if  it  was  in  the  state  of  nature ;  but, 
my  dear  sir,  forgive  me  if  I  postpone  selling  them  land 
at  the  original  price  of  $1.50  per  acre  till  you  have 
reconsidered  the  matter.  If  I  should  offer  lands  in  this 
neighborhood  at  that  price  to  intruders,  from  that  mo- 
ment the  sales  to  other  persons  would  cease,  or  I  would 
have  to  sell  all  the  lands  at  the  same  price.  If  I  should 
refuse  this  in  one  single  instance,  I  should  give  general 
dissatisfaction.  The  settlers  under  the  Company,  what- 


THE  HOLLAND  LAND  COMPANY  121 

ever  might  have  been  their  former  roguish  intentions, 
can  hardly  bear  now  that  I  treat  the  intruder  as  if  no- 
thing had  happened,  and  I  am  pretty  certain  that  if  being 
an  intruder  could  give  them  a  claim  towards  getting 
lands  cheap,  they  would  all  turn  landthieves  to  a  man 
before  the  end  of  the  year  ...  I  am  informed  that  on 
the  morrow  there  will  be  a  meeting  in  this  town  of  the 
ejected  intruders,  and  probably  others  will  also  come  in. 
If  they  should  be  peaceably  inclined,  you  may  depend 
upon  it  that  I  shall  not  be  backward  in  granting  rea- 
sonable terms,  but  I  cannot  deny  that  the  turning  out 
of  possession  of  the  ejected  persons  will  have  more 
effect  than  a  decision  of  which  they  hear  by  the  papers, 
but  the  consequences  of  which  they  do  not  see.  Those, 
therefore,  who  do  not  submit  within  the  course  of  this 
week  I  would,  if  it  meets  with  your  approbation,  leave 
to  be  dealt  with  according  to  law,  not  for  the  sake  of 
gratifying  a  wish  to  be  revenged,  but  because  I  think 
it  good  policy  to  show  the  intruders  by  experience  that 
the  contest  is  over,  and  that  any  further  opposition 
must  draw  certain  ruin  to  those  that  still  persevere  in 
their  opposition,  while  such  as  submit  are  placed  on  the 
same  footing  with  the  settlers. 

With  Mr.  Busti,  on  the  one  hand,  urging  him  to  offer 
gratuities  of  large  tracts  to  induce  settlers  to  buy,  or 
advising  him  to  make  concessions,  and  with  many  "  in- 
truders," on  the  other  hand,  coming  to  him  with  offers 
of  compromise,  he  was  obliged  to  stand  firm  in  his 
position,  and  to  use  his  own  discretion  to  the  full 
extent,  refusing  to  give  away  the  Company's  acres 
until  the  question  could  be  settled,  and  declining  to 
treat  with  the  intruders  until  assured  of  the  justice  of 
their  claims.  It  was  his  conservative  policy  to  delay 
until  the  Company's  rights  should  have  received  a  final 
interpretation.  "There  are  numerous  suits  in  the  court," 


122  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

he  wrote,1  "  between  settlers  and  intruders  or  between 
intruders  and  intruders,"  and  "  when  they  [the  intrud- 
ers] are  on  the  point  of  being  ejected  by  a  better  title 
they  call  upon  me  to  make  a  compromise  .  .  .  which 
would  oblige  the  Company  to  institute  a  lawsuit  against 
the  other  intruders  and  to  be  answerable  to  the  one  who 
compromised  for  the  consequences."  Mr.  Busti  also 
wished  him  to  assist  settlers  in  their  suits  against  in- 

O 

truders,  but  Mr.  Huidekoper  replied  that  while  he  might 
find  that  desirable  in  a  few  cases,  it  was  a  dangerous 
precedent  and  would  lead  to  more  trouble.  "  The 
patience  of  an  agent  here,"  he  confessed,  "  must  be 
greater  than  the  patience  of  Job  ever  was." 

His  evident  ability,  a  growing  reputation  for  justice, 
and  a  disposition  to  extend  freely  to  those  who  had 
earned  it  the  assistance  to  be  obtained  under  the  gen- 
erous rules  of  the  Company,  all  combined  to  give  him 
an  authoritative  position  in  the  community  and  so  to 
hasten  the  subsidence  of  disorder.  To  these  sources  of 
power  must  be  added  his  persuasive  and  engaging  per- 
sonality and,  as  the  following  letter  to  Mr.  Busti  bears 
witness,  his  practice  of  attending  to  matters  himself. 

[June  7,  1805.]  It  is  ...  with  pleasure  that  I  can 
inform  you  that  the  intruders  are  nearly  all  disheart- 
ened. In  the  second  district  all  is  nearly  in  order  ;  of 
all  the  ejected  intruders  there  but  three  or  four  remain 
obstinate  at  present,  and  [I]  hope  that  the  ejectments 
prepared  for  these  will  bring  them  to  their  senses.  The 
remainder  are  all  afraid  and  disclaim  all  idea  of  con- 
tending with  the  Company  or  holding  in  opposition  ; 
they  will  either  purchase  or  leave  the  land  .  .  .  Since 
I  began  this  letter  I  have  heard  from  Reese's  district 
and  from  the  quarter  adjoining  New  Connecticut.  In 

1  February  2,  1805. 


THE  HOLLAND  LAND  COMPANY  123 

these  some  symptoms  appear  of  an  approaching  insur- 
rection. The  intruders  have  made  combinations  to  de- 
fend their  property  by  force  of  arms  against  all  legal 
process  and  in  some  parts  have  voted  funds  for  the  pur- 
chase of  powder  and  balls.  I  expect  all  those  associa- 
tions and  plans  will  dwindle  to  nothing,  but  whatever 
may  happen  these  combinations  are  favorable  to  us.  If 
they  prove  abortive  they  will  only  serve  to  render  them 
suspected  to  government;  if  they  break  out  in  open 
rebellion  we  will  have  the  forces  of  the  United  States 
to  support  us  and  these  will  soon  send  all  these  vaga- 
bonds to  Louisiana.  If  it  should  come  to  an  insurrec- 
tion, we  have  people  sufficient  here  to  maintain  order 
and  good  government  in  these  parts  so  that  you  have 
nothing  to  fear  for  the  Holland  Land  Company's  pos- 
sessions. ...  I  shall,  however,  take  such  steps  as  will 
secure  the  Holland  Land  Company's  property  from  be- 
coming the  scenes  of  such  riots  and  confusion.  ...  I 
shall  .  .  .  immediately  set  out  for  districts  6  and  7, 
and  have  very  little  doubt  but  that  by  my  personal 
attendance  in  that  quarter  I  will  be  able  to  disconcert 
all  the  schemes  of  association  which  the  nest  of  in- 
truders fixed  in  these  districts  may  make.  I  find 
that  to  subdue  them  nothing  is  more  efficacious  than 
the  personal  superintendence  of  the  proprietor  or  his 
agent. 

By  August  13,  1806,  he  could  report  to  Mr.  Busti : 
"  As  to  intruders  that  is  over,  on  the  Holland  Com- 
pany's lands.  .  .  .  Those  amongst  them  that  had  any 
industry  have  chiefly  agreed  to  purchase.  Of  the  rest, 
a  part  have  been  so  good  as  to  leave  the  country,  and 
a  few  more  will  run  away  this  fall  or  next  spring  as 
soon  as  the  water  rises." 

To  his  brother  he  wrote  on  July  23,  1806  :  — 

There  was  not  so  much  daring  in  our  sustaining  that  if 
the  warrantees  were  prevented  from  settling  during  two 


124  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

years  after  the  date  of  the  warrant,  they  were  excused 
forever  after,  as  there  appears  to  you.  Your  judgment 
in  this  case  is  probably  founded  on  the  ideas  which 
you  have  of  the  laws  of  your  country,  where  less  preci- 
sion in  the  wording  is  used  and  much  is  left  to  the  con- 
struction. Here  it  is  the  contrary.  The  positive  law 
governs  here,  and  the  power  of  construction  is  very 
limited,  so  that  a  judge  cannot  declare  a  law  to  contain 
a  provision  which  the  letter  of  the  law  doth  not  fully 
express,  even  if  it  was  certain  that  the  law  had  been 
enacted  for  the  express  purpose.  ...  It  is  in  vain  to 
regret  the  past,  but  I  often  wish  that  with  the  same 
chance  Mr.  C[azenove]  had,  I  had  to  make  the  selection 
over  again,  and  I  am  persuaded  I  could  re-locate  the 
warrants  so  as  to  raise  the  lands  to  three  times  the  value 
of  which  they  are  now.  The  business  of  my  agency  is 
assuming  a  more  orderly  appearance  every  day,  and 
of  course  my  troubles  decrease.  I  am  happy  to  hear 
that  my  administration  gives  satisfaction  to  the  proprie- 
tors. 

With  Mr.  Huidekoper's  recollections  of  his  agency 
as  he  recorded  them  in  the  autobiography,  we  may  con- 
clude the  story  of  this  stormy  period. 

As  so  large  a  portion  of  my  life  has  been  spent  in 
connection  with  the  lands  which  the  Company  held  in 
this  quarter,  it  may  be  well  to  say  a  few  words  in  regard 
to  them,  and  to  their  situation  at  the  time  they  came 
under  my  care. 

These  lands  consisted  originally  of  about  500,000 
acres.  The  Company  purchased  them  from  Judge  Wil- 
son for  about  $200,000  and,  by  the  end  of  1804  about 
$200,000  more  had  been  spent  on  them  for  various  pur- 
poses. The  law  under  which  these  lands  were  taken  up 
required,  that  the  Warrantee  should  make,  within  two 
Years,  a  Settlement  improvement  and  residence  on  each 
tract  of  400  acres,  unless  prevented  by  the  enemies  of  the 


THE  HOLLAND  LAND  COMPANY  125 

United  States.  As  the  Indian  War  continued  till  1795, 
the  Warrantees  contended  that  they  were  thus  prevented, 
and  that  this  excused  them  from  making  the  required 
residence  and  improvement.  Still  the  Company  made 
strenuous  efforts,  by  giving  gratuities  in  land,  and  by 
making  advances  to  settlers,  to  cause  their  lands  to  be 
settled.  These  efforts  met  with  but  a  very  partial  suc- 
cess. To  the  difficulties  naturally  connected  with  the 
settlement  of  lands,  situated  at  a  great  distance  from  the 
districts  from  which  the  Settlers  must  be  drawn,  and  of 
very  difficult  access,  was  added,  that  disputes  arose  as 
to  the  title.  The  same  law  under  which  these  lands 
were  held,  authorized  actual  Settlers  to  go  on  any  of 
the  unappropriated  lands,  to  reside  on  and  improve  them, 
and  to  complete  their  title,  at  a  subsequent  period,  by 
paying  the  purchase-money  to  the  State.  Under  this 
clause  of  the  law,  sundry  speculators,  such  as  Messrs. 
Watts,  Scott,  Miles,  the  M'Nairs,  and  others,  who  had 
no  money  to  obtain  lands  by  paying  for  warrants,  en- 
deavored to  appropriate  to  themselves  large  bodies  of 
land,  by  means  of  surveys  made  on  Sham  Settlements 
and  improvements.  As  most  of  the  good  lands  had  been 
appropriated  by  the  warrant  holders,  these  speculators, 
in  order  to  enlarge  the  field  of  their  operations,  seized 
on  those  lands,  under  pretext  that  the  right  of  warrant- 
holders  had  become  forfeited  for  want  of  the  requisite 
settlements ;  and,  in  order  to  strengthen  themselves, 
they  induced  other  persons  to  take  possession  of  those 
lands  in  opposition  to  the  Warrant  title.  As  such  a  doc- 
trine was  well  calculated  to  become  popular,  the  country 
was  soon  covered  with  Squatters ;  many  of  those  who 
held  contracts  under  the  Companies,  began  to  hold  in 
opposition  to  them,  and  others  sat  quiet  determined  to 
await  the  issue  of  the  contest,  while  another  portion  of 
them  remained  faithful  to  their  engagements. 

Major  Alden,  who  was  the  Company's  Agent  for 
these  lands,  was  a  very  inefficient  man,  altogether  un- 
equal to  the  difficulties  of  his  station  ;  while  Mr.  Alex- 


126  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

ander  McDowell,  who,  under  him,  had  the  charge  of  the 
lands  in  the  7th  and  part  of  the  6th  Districts,  neglected 
his  Agency.  It  is  true  that  in  1797  the  Company,  act- 
ing under  the  influence  of  a  Man  supposed  to  be  their 
friend,  but  really  connected  with  the  Speculators,  pur- 
chased their  peace  from  Messrs.  Watts,  Scott  and  Miles, 
and  converted  them  into  nominal  Agents,  at  a  sacrifice 
of  about  thirty  thousand  dollars,  but  this  did  but  little 
towards  allaying  the  existing  excitement.  The  political 
demagogues  of  the  day  encouraged  the  Squatters  in 
their  opposition  and  enlisted  the  legislature  in  their 
favour,  so  that,  when  I  came  to  the  Agency,  the  Com- 
pany were  contending  for  the  possession  of  their  dear- 
bought  property.  For  the  rest,  with  the  exception  of 
some  portion  of  the  second  district,  every  part  of  the 
Agency  was  involved  in  uncertainty  and  confusion  ;  and 
the  receipts  to  be  derived  from  the  sales  and  from  the 
outstanding  debts,  were  inadequate  to  defray  the  current 
expenses  of  the  Agency. 

In  the  Spring  of  1805  the  cause  of  Huidekoper  v. 
Douglass  was  tried  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States,  and  decision  had  in  favour  of  the  Warrantees. 
That  decision,  by  which  the  title  of  the  Warrantees  was 
declared  to  be  complete,  gradually  restored  peace  to 
this  country ;  and  by  a  couple  of  Years  of  exertions, 
those  Intrusions,  so  extensive  and  formidable  when  I 
entered  on  the  Agency,  were  reduced  to  a  few  scatter- 
ing, isolated  cases.  The  angry  feelings  however  which 
the  contest  had  engendered,  survived  long  after  the 
contest  itself  had  ceased ;  and  the  injurious  effects  aris- 
ing from  a  disputed  title,  were  felt  for  many  Years  after- 
wards. In  all  the  troubles  of  those  early  days  however, 
I  never  met  with  any  personal  violence ;  though  such 
was  frequently  threatened.  I  have  however  reason  to 
think  that  in  a  journey  which  I  took  in  1805  through 
the  7th  district,  I  was  once  in  imminent  danger,  though 
unconscious  of  it  at  the  time.  It  was  twenty  years  after- 
wards that  I  was  one  day  fired  at  and  my  horse  wounded. 


THE  HOLLAND  LAND  COMPANY  127 

This  was  on  the  Stateroad  between  the  two  Broken- 
straw  Creeks* 

In  the  fall  of  1809  I  was  called  to  Philadelphia  to 
assist  at  the  sale  of  the  Holland  Company  concern 
under  my  care  to  Messrs.  Griffith  and  Wallace.  This 
sale  was  concluded  on  the  1st  february  1810,  and  I 
was  appointed  the  joint  agent  of  the  Vendors  and  the 
Vendees.  I  did  then  consider,  and  have  ever  since 
considered,  that  contract  as  a  very  injudicious  one  on 
the  part  of  the  Company,  and  believe  it  to  have  been 
the  offspring  of  a  moment  of  despondency  and  of  mis- 
taken views.  To  me  personally  however  the  change 
was  advantageous.  It  is  true  that  my  fixed  salary  was 
reduced  from  $2,400  to  $1,000  a  year,  but  the  rate 
of  my  Commissions  on  sales  and  collections  was  in- 
creased so  as  more  than  to  compensate  for  this  deduc- 
tion. 

Messrs.  Griffith  and  Wallace  had  in  the  Year  1811 
purchased  from  some  dutch  Gentlemen  One  thousand 
shares  in  the  Pennsylvania  Population  Company.2  That 
Company  was  dissolved  in  1812,  and  in  1813  Messrs. 
Griffith  and  Wallace  put  under  my  care  that  portion  of 
those  lands  situated  in  the  Counties  of  Erie  and  Craw- 
ford which  fell  to  them. 

In  the  year  1812  Messrs.  Griffith  and  Wallace  em- 
ployed a  man  of  the  name  of  William  S.  Hart  to 
effect  sales  at  a  distance.  It  was  through  his  Agency 

1  What  is  omitted  here  may  be  found  in  chapter  iv.f  pages  147,  153, 
and  in  chapter  ix.,  page  301. 

2  The  Pennsylvania  Population  Company  was  organized  at  about  the 
time    the    members   of  the   Holland  Land  Company  made   their   con- 
tract  with  Judge   Wilson,  and  took  out  warrants  for  land  under  the 
Act  of  1792.   Among  the  original  subscribers,  one  of  whom  was  Aaron 
Burr,  were  some  of  the  associates  in  the  Holland  Land  Company,  namely, 
P.  Stadnitski,  P.  and  C.  van    Eeghen,   J.    Tincate,   H.   Vollenhoven, 
F.  Cazenove,  and  N.  van  Staphorst.   Others  of  the    subscribers  were 
R.  Morris,  J.  Wilson,  J.  Nicholson  and  G.  Mead.   (Matters  pertaining  to 
the  History  of  the  Pennsylvania  Population  Company,  furnished  to  the 
Literary  Union  Club  by  Alfred  Huidekoper,  1876.) 


128  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

that  a  considerable  quantity  of  our  good  land  here  was 
exchanged  for  very  indifferent  farms  in  Berkshire, 
Massachusetts,  which  latter,  being  imprudently  kept 
too  long  on  hand,  were  ultimately  sold  at  a  very  heavy 
loss.  Wishing  to  accelerate  the  sales,  and  finding  that 
Mr.  Hart  effected  little,  Messrs.  Griffith  and  Wallace 
associated  with  him  Augustus  Sacket,  a  man  without 
principles,  morals  or  talents,  but  who  had  been  highly 
recommended  to  them  by  those  who  did  not  know  him. 
By  the  contract  made  with  these  men,  they  were  en- 
trusted with  the  sale  of  the  Holland  Company  lands. 
Sacket  was  to  reside  at  Meadville  and  Hart  to  operate 
at  a  distance.  Of  the  proceeds  of  the  sales  made  by 
them,  Messrs.  Griffith  and  Wallace  were  to  receive  in 
the  first  instance,  $1.25  per  acre,  and  the  residue,  after 
deducting  some  contingencies,  was  to  be  divided  in 
equal  portions  between  the  parties.  To  me  was  in- 
trusted the  collection  of  the  money,  and  the  making  of 
the  Conveyances.  This  contract  proved  in  the  sequel 
the  source  of  much  trouble  and  vexation. 

Sacket  arrived  here  in  1813,  and  began  by  writing 
circulars  to  all  the  postmasters  in  New  York  and  the 
New  England  States  constituting  them  Agents  under 
him  for  the  sale  of  the  lands,  with  the  promise  of  a 
heavy  commission.  For  the  first  Year  matters  went  on 
pretty  smoothly.  Sacket  confined  himself  chiefly  to 
retail  operations,  and  I  was  uninformed  of  the  misre- 
presentations he  made  use  of  to  attract  purchasers.  But 
in  the  Year  1814  things  began  to  assume  another 
aspect.  Mr.  Sacket  was  now  surrounded  by  a  set  of 
reckless  speculators,  equally  destitute  of  principles  and 
of  means.  To  these  men  he  sold  large  bodies  of  land, 
at  reduced  prices,  giving  them  a  separate  contract  for 
each  tract  or  part  of  a  tract,  with  a  clause,  that  in  case 
of  a  resale  by  the  speculator  the  sub-purchaser  under 
him  should  be  substituted  in  his  place.  In  some  of 
these  sales  I  have  reason  to  believe  that  Mr.  Sacket 
was  secretly  interested  with  the  speculators.  Some  of 


THE  HOLLAND  LAND  COMPANY  129 

these  sales  exceeded  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  in 
amount ;  and  in  one  case  $67,000  worth  of  land  was 
sold  to  a  man  not  worth  a  dollar,  and  who  had  never 
seen  a  foot  of  the  land  for  which  he  contracted.  The 
object  of  Mr.  Sacket  in  making  large  sales  to  men  with 
whom  he  was  himself  in  partnership,  was  plain.  By 
his  contract  of  Agency  he  was  to  be  entitled  to  only 
one  fourth  of  the  profits  arising  from  the  sales,  and  by 
his  connexion  with  the  speculators,  he  secured  the  one 
half.  And  these  large  purchases  were  without  any  risk 
to  the  Speculators,  as,  what  could  not  be  resold  at  an 
advanced  price,  might,  at  any  time,  be  assigned  to 
some  nominal  sub-purchaser.  Mr.  Sacket's  object  in 
selling  large  bodies  of  the  more  unsaleable  lands  to 
men  notoriously  not  worth  a  dollar,  is  less  obvious. 
Perhaps  he  wished  to  have  it  in  his  power  to  show 
that  there  was  a  large  amount  of  money  due  to  him  for 
his  share  in  these  pretended  Sales ;  and  intended  then, 
to  sell  out  to  some  one  at  a  distance,  his  supposed  in- 
terest in  those  sales,  as  his  partner  Mr.  Hart  afterwards 
did,  who  sold  to  Messrs.  Peck  and  Shattuck  two  third 
parts  of  his  eventual  profits  to  be  derived  from  the 
agency,  for  $15,000.  In  order  to  supply  the  speculators 
he  was  interested  with  with  Money,  Mr.  Sacket  stipu- 
lated to  make  to  them  an  allowance  of  two  dollars  per 
hundred  acres,  nominally  to  pay  for  making  surveys ; 
and  I  was  actually  applied  to  to  make  this  advance.  As 
I  was  found  to  be  intractable  on  this  point  and  was 
likely  to  be  in  the  way  of  some  ulterior  operations,  and, 
among  these,  of  some  secret  arrangements  between  Mr. 
Miles  and  Mr.  Sacket,  it  was  determined  to  get  me  re- 
moved from  the  Agency.  In  order  to  effect  this  it  was 
deemed  necessary  to  enlist  the  co-operation  of  some  of 
the  Gentlemen  in  town.  To  procure  this  it  was  repre- 
sented to  them  that  it  was  my  interference  with  Mr. 
Sacket's  operations  which  prevented  the  Country  from 
being  filled,  at  once,  with  settlers,  and  that,  as  to  any 
lands  they  themselves  might  have  for  sale3  Mr.  Sacket, 


130  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

if  left  to  act,  could  easily  sell  these  for  them  at  any 
price  they  might  set  on  them.  With  some  this  bait 
took,  and,  during  a  temporary  absence  from  home,  a 
secret  meeting  was  held  ;  and  certain  statements  made 
there  by  one  of  the  Speculators,  were  signed  by  the 
parties  present  at  the  meeting,  and  transmitted  to 
Messrs.  Griffith  and  Wallace. 

In  the  mean  time  I  was,  as  far  as  possible,  kept  in 
ignorance  of  what  was  going  on,  and  even  of  the 
contracts  made,  especially  as  to  their  details.  I  merely 
knew  from  the  excitement  got  up,  that  there  were  some 
machinations  and  intrigues  going  on  around  me  which 
were  intended  to  affect  me,  but  of  which,  for  the 
tune,  I  could  not  fathom  the  object ;  I  felt  myself 
surrounded  by  difficulties  with  which  I  could  not  grap- 
ple, because  I  could  not  see  them,  and  during  the 
summer  and  fall  of  1814  I  felt  myself  really  made  un- 
happy by  the  situation  in  which  I  found  myself  placed. 
Gradually,  however,  light  began  to  dawn  on  the  mys- 
tery by  which  I  was  surrounded,  and  I  began  to  per- 
ceive both  its  source  and  its  object.  In  the  Spring  of 
1815  Mr.  Sacket,  in  direct  violation  of  his  contract, 
went  to  Utica  to  sell  lands  for  sundry  persons  in  this 
neighborhood.  His  conduct  there  was  of  such  a  swin- 
dling nature,  and  so  outrageous,  as  to  open  the  eyes  of 
the  public  here,  at  once,  as  to  the  real  character  of  the 
man,  and  even  to  bring  his  sanity  in  question.  In  the 
Summer  of  1815  the  contract  between  Messrs.  Griffith 
and  Wallace  and  Messrs.  Sacket  and  Hart  was  cancelled. 
I  experienced  however  for  a  long  while  afterwards  some 
of  the  troubles  to  which  it  gave  rise,  and  many  of  the 
evils  that  grew  out  of  it.1  .  .  . 

The  late  war  which  broke  out  in  1812,  by  turning 
the  attention  of  the  public  towards  the  lake  Country, 
served  to  bring  this  section  of  Pennsylvania  into  notice ; 
and  from  that  time  onward  the  settlement  and  improve- 
ment of  it  has  been  going  on  with  increasing  rapidity, 

1  The  paragraph  omitted  here  is  to  be  found  in  chapter  iv.,  page  152. 


THE  HOLLAND  LAND  COMPANY  131 

until  the  country  has  become  what  You  now  see.  If 
Messrs.  Griffith  and  Wallace  could  have  retained  their 
interest  in  it,  it  would  now  have  made  their  families  in- 
dependent. But  unfortunately  for  them,  both  of  them 
were  embarrassed  before  they  purchased  from  the  Com- 
pany. In  1816  Judge  Griffith  found  himself  compelled 
to  sell  out  his  interests  in  this  quarter  to  the  Messrs. 
Wurts.  He  died  some  Years  afterwards  at  Washington, 
where  he  held  the  office  of  Clerk  of  the  United  States 
Court. 

The  Messrs.  Wurts  made  in  1818  partition  with  Mr. 
Wallace.  Previous  to  this  partition,  I  agreed  with  them, 
in  consideration  of  certain  obligations  to  be  assigned 
to  me,  to  assume  the  lien  of  about  $56,000,  which  the 
dutch  Gentlemen  had  on  the  lands  derived  from  the 
Pennsylva.  Populn  Comp.  for  a  balance  due  on  purchase 
money.  On  this  partition  Mr.  Wallace  assumed  to  pay 
the  purchase  money  due  to  the  Holland  land  Company. 
The  Messrs.  Wurts,  being  embarrassed,  assigned  to  sun- 
dry of  their  creditors,  the  obligations  which,  on  this 
partition,  fell  to  their  share.  Out  of  these  assignments 
sprung  the  Agency  for  Messrs.  Day  and  Meredith  and 
other  smaller  agencies  which  have  been  under  my  care. 

Mr.  Wallace  becoming  more  and  more  involved,  after 
assigning,  from  time  to  time,  to  certain  of  his  creditors, 
such  portions  of  the  population  Company  concern  as 
yet  remained  to  him,  was  obliged,  in  1829,  to  make  a 
general  assignment.  He  died  suddenly  in  January  1837. 
In  the  preceding  Year  I  had  purchased  from  the  Hol- 
land land  Company  the  remainder  of  their  concern  under 
my  care  for  ^ITS^OO.1 

1  The  lands  were  estimated  at  58,300  acres. 


CHAPTER   IV 

REBECCA  COLHOON 

I  WILL  now  [wrote  the  elder  brother  in  Holland  to 
Mr.  Huidekoper  some  time  in  the  winter  of  1805-6] 
reply  to  ...  [your  letter]  of  the  20th,  .  .  .  the  reading 
of  which  has  made  me  laugh  for  joy.  Your  career,  dear 
friend,  has  been  for  many  years  one  of  the  things  which 
most  interested  me.  With  much  sympathy  I  watched 
you  make  the  desired  progress  and  now  reach  a  certain 
degree  of  success,  and  even  before  receiving  your  let- 
ter it  was  my  desire  to  see  you  become  entirely  an 
American,  and  this  you  will  become  by  taking  one  of 
their  daughters  to  wife,  —  but  although  I  am  a  strong 
advocate  of  such  ties,  and  consider  it  one  of  the  most 
important  reasons  for  our  existence,  I  do  not  believe 
that  this  state  should  be  entered  into  merely  as  a  mat- 
ter of  principle,  but  as  it  were  more  or  less  from  com- 
pulsion, that  is,  when  one  has  lost  his  heart  completely, 
and  does  not  wish  to  have  it  back  except  accompanied 
by  the  object  which  has  stolen  it.  I  saw  thus  with 
pleasure  the  consequence  of  your  trip  to  Pittsburg, 
and  sincerely  hope  that  the  uncertainty  in  which  you 
were  as  to  the  feelings  of  the  object  of  your  affections 
has  changed  into  an  agreeable  certainty,  and  that  the 
receipt  of  this  may  find  you,  if  not  at  the  attainment, 
at  least  near  to  the  culmination  of  your  hopes.  But 
you  are  mistaken  if  you  think  that  a  description  of  her 
person  would  not  be  interesting ;  the  contrary  is  true, 
we  should  be  very  much  interested,  and  as  long  as  you 
withhold  it  from  us  I  shall  have  to  form  one  in  my 
imagination,  taking  as  my  pattern  one  of  the  many 
which  I  have  seen  in  America,  namely  a  woman  (con- 


Rebecca  Colhoon  Huidekoper 


REBECCA  CQLHOON  133 

trary  to  those  which  by  reason  of  their  coarseness,  fat- 
ness, voice  and  manners,  we  call  here  "mantraps  "  )  with 
a  graceful  and  rather  tall  figure  and  further  gifted  with 
that  pretty  talkativeness  in  which  no  woman  in  the 
world  surpasses  the  "  fair  Columbian."  Now,  dear  friend 
Harm  Jan,  I  hope  that  I  shall  not  have  to  wait  long 
for  further  news  from  you,  but  that  you  will  send  me 
before  long  favorable  tidings  regarding  the  state  of 
your  affections ;  further  I  sincerely  hope  that  you  may 
never  know  what  it  is  to  be  disappointed  in  such  a 
matter. 

The  especial  fair  Columbian  referred  to  in  this  letter 
was  Rebecca  Colhoon,  of  Carlisle,  Pennsylvania.  Her 
grandfather,  John  Colhoon,  was  a  Scotchman,  or  of 
Scotch-Irish  descent,  who  removed  from  his  home  in 
Ireland  l  and  settled  with  his  wife,  Rebecca,  in  Middle- 
ton  Township,  Cumberland  County,  Pennsylvania.  The 
name  in  Scotland  is  Colquhoun,  pronounced  Co'hoon,  a 
pronunciation  adhered  to  by  the  Pennsylvania  family, 
who,  however,  adopted  the  shorter  spelling.  Andrew 
Colhoon,  the  son  of  John,  was  born  before  his  father 
removed  to  America.  He  married  Esther  McDowell,  and 
made  his  home  in  Carlisle,  where  he  carried  on  a  large 
building,  carpentering  and  cabinet-making  business,  and 
accumulated  a  moderate  fortune.  Fair  and  tall,  with  a 
commanding  figure  and  frank,  cordial  manner,  he  was 
an  open-hearted  generous  host,  and  entertained  his 
friends  hospitably  in  the  stone  house  in  which  his 
daughters  passed  their  younger  years.  With  the  depre- 
ciation of  the  Continental  currency  his  fortune  vanished, 
and  he  himself,  in  the  latter  part  of  his  life,  became 
utterly  disheartened.  He  died  May  8,  1794,  leaving 

1  Pomona  Hall,  by  Alfred  Huidekoper,  p.  9. 


134  HARM  JA$  HUIDEKOPER 

his  widow,  Esther  McDowell,  alone  to  care  for  Rebecca 
and  her  three  sisters.1  Esther  McDowell  stands  in  the 
family  traditions  as  having  married  Andrew  Colhoon  in 
compliance  with  the  wishes  of  her  parents,  while  always 
cherishing  the  memory  and  the  ring  of  a  soldier  lover. 
"  Contented  but  not  happy,"  is  the  description  given  of 
her,  yet  she  had  ever  since  the  wedding  day,  in  1777, 
been  an  attentive,  excellent  wife.  She  survived  her  hus- 
band but  a  little  over  a  year.2 

Her  sister  Lydia  had  married  Mr.  James  Bryson,  of 
Pittsburg,  and  her  brother,  John,3  was  a  physician  in 
the  same  city,  so  that  her  girls,  when  thus  left  orphans, 
did  not  lack  protectors.  On  the  other  hand  the  Col- 
hoons  had  relatives  in  Carlisle,  one  of  whom,  Robert 
Miller,  undertook  the  care  of  the  small  remnant  of  An- 
drew Colhoon's  estate.  The  four  girls,  therefore,  were 
well  looked  after.  Sarah  and  Rebecca  struggled  for  a 
time  to  keep  the  little  family  together ;  but  the  task  was 
too  great,  and  by  the  advice  of  Mr.  Miller,  who  offered 
the  two  older  girls  a  home,  the  younger  ones  were  sent 
to  Pittsburg.  In  making  this  journey  they  traveled  in 
the  charge  of  some  friendly  people  who  were  moving 
westward  with  all  their  household  goods,  in  one  of 
the  old-fashioned  Pennsylvania  or  "Conestoga"  wagons. 
This  immense  structure  held  the  entire  familv,  with 

•/  ' 

their   furniture,  clothing,  household  utensils   and  all, 

1  Six  of  their  ten  children  died  in  infancy.    The  estate  of  Andrew  Col- 
hoon, inherited  jointly  by  the  three  surviving  daughters  to  whom  in  1802 
Robert  Miller  rendered  account,  amounted  to  somewhat  more  than  81.500. 
He  continued,  at  their  request,  to  hold  and  invest  the  money  for  them, 
forwarding  to  them  from  time  to  time,  such  sums  as  they  required. 

2  See  Pomona  Hall,  pp.  9-11. 

*  He  served  as  a  surgeon  all  through  the  Revolution,  and  in  later  years 
kept  open  house  in  his  home  on  the  Monongahela. 


REBECCA  COLHOON  135 

sheltering  them  with  its  white  projecting  top  from  the 
sun  and  letting  down  canvas  sides  at  the  appearance  of 
rain.  When  they  arrived  in  Pittsburg  the  Brysons  re- 
ceived Lydia,  the  McDowells,  Elizabeth.  In  the  course 
of  a  few  years  Sarah  died.  Elizabeth  eventually  mar- 
ried Mr.  Hazlett,  of  Pittsburg,  and  Rebecca,  capable  and 
self-sacrificing,  undertook,  as  Mr.  Huidekoper  has  said, 
the  care  of  her  and  her  household. 

It  was  while  Rebecca  Colhoon  was  in  Pittsburg,  prob- 
ably with  her  sister,  that  Mr.  Huidekoper  first  saw  her. 
That  he  was  not  the  only  one  to  feel  her  distinctive 
charm,  her  cousin,  Miss  Wilson,  rallying  her  on  her 
conquests  in  the  winter  of  1804-5,  implied  when  she 
wrote  to  her  from  Baltimore  : l  "I  have  heard  tales  of 
you  though  none  to  your  disadvantage,  unless  the  tale 
of  your  having  two  or  three  candidates  for  the  Honor 
of  your  fair  Hand  is  a  tale  to  your  disadvantage,  if  it 
is,  I  have  not  found  out  where  the  injury  lies,  unless  it 
is  in  making  you  too  hard  to  please.  I  have  purchased 
you  a  Bonnet,  I  know  you  will  think  it  a  very  dear  one, 
when  you  see  the  Bill,  I  wish  I  was  as  sure  of  its  pleas- 
ing as  I  am  of  its  costing  too  much ;  but  you  may  be 
assured  that  I  could  not  get  one  for  less,  I  could  have 
got  a  gayer  Bonnet  than  the  one  I  send  you,  but  it 
would  have  cost  at  least  six  dollars  more,  which  price  I 
thought  you  would  not  like  to  give.  I  wish  you  had 
come  to  Baltimore  in  the  Fall  as  you  talked  of  doing, 

—  I  am  continually  thinking  of  you  and  the  pleasure  of 
our  youthful  days  in  Carlisle.   If  I  ever  have  it  in  my 
power  I  am  resolved  to  go  to  Pittsburgh,  so  pray  do  get 
married  and  have  a  corner  at  your  own  fireside  for  me 

—  and  if  I  can  I  will  have  one  at  my  fireside  in  B.  for 

i  December  24, 1804. 


136  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

you  when  you  are  kind  enough  to  think  us  worth  a  visit. 
I  ought  to  have  written  me,  for  I  would  have  you  ride 
three  Hundred  miles  to  see  myself  alone. —  I  must  bid 
you  good  [night]  and  God  bless  you.  Sterne  says  that  is 
equal  to  a  kiss  ;  but  Mary  Wolstoncraft  says  she  would 
rather  have  the  kiss  into  the  bargain.  So  would  I  from 
you  to-night." 

On  July  23,  1806,  Mr.  Huidekoper  wrote  to  his  bro- 
ther : l  - 

You  want  that  I  should  give  you  a  description  of 
Miss  Colhoon,  the  young  lady  who  has  captivated  my 
affections,  and  you  shall  have  it  tho'  I  undertake  the 
task  with  reluctance,  not  that  I  can  have  any  objec- 
tion to  it,  but  I  have  found  out  that  I  have  no  talent 
whatsoever  of  drawing  the  portrait  of  any  person, 
even  if  I  should  see  him  every  hour  of  the  day,  and  if 
I  speak  of  Miss  C.'s  moral  qualities  I  am  afraid  you 
will  consider  them  rather  as  eif  usions  of  an  enthusiastic 
admirer  than  as  the  real  character  of  that  interesting 
girl. 

To  begin  with  her  person,  Miss  C.  is  about  twenty- 
three  years  of  age,  of  a  middling  stature  and  slender, 
but  well  formed.  Her  hair  falls  in  natural  ringlets  on 
her  face  and  neck  and  is  of  a  chestnut  colour.  Her  eyes 
are  gray  and  express  all  that  soft  languor  of  a  blonde. 
Her  face  on  which  the  bewitching  smile  of  good  nature 
continually  plays  is  regularly  made,  and  tho'  I  have 
seen  some  that  appeared  handsomer  to  me,  yet  I  never 
met  with  one  that  was  so  perfectly  amiable.2  But  what 
principally  fixed  my  affections  were  not  so  much  the 
charms  of  her  person  (lovely  as  she  is)  as  the  qual- 
ities of  her  mind  and  heart.  To  an  understanding  cul- 
tivated with  care,  Miss  C.  unites  that  sweet  affability 
of  manners  which  makes  our  intercourse  with  her  so 

1  This  was  but  little  more  than  a  month  before  his  marriage. 

2  Mr.  Huidekoper  sometimes  used  the  word  amiable  for  lovable. 


REBECCA  COLHOON  137 

engaging.  In  her  are  associated  the  lively  sensibility 
which  flows  from  a  heart  naturally  good,  with  that 
happy  equanimity  of  temper  which  is  perhaps  the  first 
requisite  to  insure  felicity  in  the  connubial  state.  Edu- 
cated with  care  by  a  mother  who  tho'  long  dead  is  still 
venerated  and  regretted  by  her  and  by  an  aunt  who  has 
very  generously  supplied  that  loss,  Miss  C.  has  from  her 
earliest  infancy  acquired  habits  of  industry  and  since 
some  years  she  superintends  the  family  of  a  younger, 
but  married  sister,  who  judges  herself  less  qualified  to 
that  task.  In  one  word  Miss  C.  is  universally  esteemed 
and  beloved  and  I  never  have  found  but  one  other 
woman  who  had  not  a  single  enemy,  that  is  Mrs. 
Mappa. 

Such  is  the  sister-in-law  I  had  destined  for  you,  or  at 
least  such  she  appears  to  me.  If  you  have  received  a 
hasty  letter  which  I  wrote  to  you  from  Philadelphia,1 
you  will  have  seen  that  your  wishes  for  my  happiness 
have  not  been  accomplished,  and  that  it  has  hitherto 
been  my  lot  to  experience  the  most  cruel  disappoint- 
ment. Miss  C.  has  treated  me  with  a  frankness  which 
has  served  only  to  increase  my  esteem,  and  my  regret  at 
the  moment  that  I  am  losing  her,  perhaps  forever.  She 
assures  me  that  her  affections  are  not  engaged  and  that 
I  possess  her  esteem,  and  she  offers  me  her  friendship, 
but  this  is  the  utmost  progress  I  have  been  able  to  make, 
and  I  do  not  find  myself  nearer  to  the  accomplishment 
of  my  wishes  than  I  was  six  months  ago.  Still  I  find  it 
impossible  to  detach  my  heart  from  that  incomparable 
girl,  and  at  this  moment  I  love  her  more  than  ever. 
With  some  difficulty  I  have  obtained  a  continuation  of 
our  correspondence  and  tho'  her  letters  are  on  indiffer- 
ent subjects,  yet  they  are  kind  and  friendly  and  as  long 
as  this  indulgence  lasts,  I  shall  not  be  without  some 
hope.  That  correspondence  is  now  the  last  tie  that  links 
her  to  me,  and  I  can  assure  you  that  I  should  look  upon 

1  Mr.  Huidekoper  made  a  visit  to  Philadelphia  in  March,  1806,  and  on 
his  way  saw  Miss  Colhoon  again. 


138  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

the  day  on  which  that  was  broke  off  as  one  of  the  most 
unfortunate  of  my  life.  .  .  . 

To  this  his  brother  returned  reply  (the  date  is  uncer- 
tain) :  — 

As  I  am  following  your  letter  from  subject  to  subject, 
I  make  the  same  abrupt  jump  as  you,  namely  from  po- 
litical matters  to  the  portrait  of  Miss  C.  Truly,  my  friend, 
it  is  charming,  and  one  must  certainly  be  smitten  to  be 
able  to  sketch  it  in  such  a  lifelike  way.  She  is  just  such 
a  one  as  I  had  wished  for  you,  and  with  such  qualities 
as  appear  to  be  associated  in  her  you  could  not  fail  to 
be  happy.  But  I  cannot  refrain  from  shaking  my  head 
at  the  manner  of  her  refusal ;  I  confess  that  I  do  not 
understand  it.  Sincere,  and  to  declare  that  her  heart  is 
free ;  sincere,  and  to  say  that  friendship  and  respect  were 
given  to  you,  and  sincerely  to  mean  that  she  does  not 
wish  to  marry,  —  I  tell  you  sincerely  that  I  do  not  under- 
stand it  at  all.  Were  we  not  so  far  away  from  each  other, 
I  should  come  to  investigate  the  matter  in  person,  but 
not  being  able  to  do  this,  I  must  remain  in  uncertainty 
until  you  advise  me  of  the  final  result  of  the  affair,  be 
it  favorable  or  otherwise.  Should  unfortunately  the  lat- 
ter be  the  case,  I  shall  console  myself  with  the  thought 
that  in  your  case  the  cause  has  not  been  lack  of  means 
of  existence,  —  that  family  on  her  side  has  not  been  an 
obstacle,  —  but  that  free  choice  has  caused  the  non-ful- 
filment of  your  wishes.  I  have  been  told  that  affection 
cannot  endure  if  it  does  not  come  from  both  parties  and 
further  I  must  remind  you  of  the  rule  that  there  is  no 
affection  which  does  not  contribute  to  happiness,  as  long 
as  it  is  kept  within  bounds ;  should  Miss  C.  remain  of 
the  same  peculiar  humor,  awaken  your  pride  and  selfish- 
ness a  little,  and  let  them  help  you  break  your  chains, 
the  further  wearing  of  which  would  bring  neither  honor 
nor  pleasure.  From  what  you  tell  me,  however,  I  do  not 
wish  to  consider  that  the  affair  is  hopeless ;  on  the  con- 


REBECCA   COLHOON   HUIDEKOPER 


REBECCA  COLHOON  139 

trary,  I  am  anxious  to  receive  your  further  advices,  as  I 
flatter  myself  that  they  will  inform  me  of  something 
agreeable  in  regard  to  this  matter. 

In  spite  of  all  discouragements  Mr.  Huidekoper  evi- 
dently had  some  faith  in  his  ultimate  success,  for  he  had 
proceeded  early  in  1806  to  buy  land  for  a  homestead,1  and 
in  his  letters  to  his  brother  had  referred  hopefully  to  the 
provision  made  for  a  family  by  the  subsequent  building 
of  a  house  very  different  from  the  log  cabin  in  which 
he  at  first  lived.2 

To  these  references  his  brother  made  answer  in  the 
letter  first  quoted  (1805-6).  "So  you  are  going  to 
build  for  yourself  a  nice  house,  and  in  the  American 
style,  as  there  is  to  be  a  gallery  along  the  front,  so  that 
it  will  be  much  like  that  of  young  Mr.  Morris  at  Canan- 
daigua,  and  that  building  pleased  me  very  much,  as 
being  only  one  room  deep  it  afforded  a  double  view. 
This  cage  will  be  too  pretty  to  be  occupied  by  you  alone, 
and  by  all  means  you  should  endeavor  to  get  a  '  hoentje ' 
[hen  chicken]  for  it,  if  it  cannot  be  a '  Col'hoen,'  let  it  be 
a  '  kerhoen'  [woodhen]  or  a  bird  of  some  other  name;  the 
name  must  be  Hollandized  any  way,  or  else  changed 
into  'Mrs.  Cooper,' — as  during  my  stay  in  America 
the  first  syllable  of  our  family  name  would  not  pass  cur- 
rent. This  house  makes  your  new  purchase  a  rather 
expensive  piece  of  ground ;  $4,000.00  is  fl.  10,000,  and 
Boomrijk  on  which  a  very  fair  house  stands,  and  which 
is  25  acres  in  size,  has  only  cost  us  fl.  21,000.00,  but 

1  "  The  Cottage  Farm,"  as  his  first  piece  of  land  was  called  before  he 
purchased  it,  became  the  nucleus  for  the  large  estate  which,  from  its 
orchards  and  gardens,  he  named  Pomona. 

2  This  log  house,  now  covered  with  clapboards,  is  still  standing  on  Wal- 
nut Street,  a  little  west  of  Market. 


140  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

the  first  laying  out  has  perhaps  cost  four  times  as  much. 
But  we  have  heavy  burdens  to  bear  which  are  perhaps 
not  known  in  your  parts." 

The  letters  that  passed  between  Mr.  Huidekoper  and 
Rebecca  Colhoon  were  not  many,  nor  do  they  tell  the 
circumstances  of  their  first  meeting.  "  Chance  intro- 
duced me  into  your  presence,"  he  said,  in  one  of  them, 
"  and  that  moment  decided  my  fate."  For  a  long  time 
his  fate  threatened  to  be  merely  that  of  a  friend  privi- 
leged to  enter  into  a  rather  one-sided  correspondence. 
His  communications  were  but  charily  responded  to,  and 
when  his  pen  ran  away  with  him  into  forbidden  subjects 
he  received  no  answers  at  all.  "  I  have  nobody  here," 
he  wrote  from  Meadville  in  November,  1805,  "  who  like 
you  possesses  the  art  of  reconciling  me  to  myself."  And 
to  that  letter  came  no  reply.  Notwithstanding  this,  he 
never  learned  to  write  with  less  ardor,  and  as  the  corre- 
spondence progressed,  a  more  confident  tone  crept  into 
it.  "  With  pleasure  I  see  that  you  have  passed  the  moun- 
tains without  even  being  threatened  with  danger,"  said 
the  letter  of  December  10,  1805,  referring  to  a  journey 
on  her  part  to  Baltimore,  where  her  uncle  Robert  Miller 
was  at  that  time,  and  where  she  spent  the  winter  of 
1805—6,  "  and  that  your  travelling  company  has  been 
agreeable.  No  wonder  your  young  gallants,  as  you  call 
them,  were  ever  attentive  ;  they  were  old  enough  to  ap- 
preciate the  happiness  of  being  for  five  days  constantly 
in  your  company.  I  have  envied  them  their  good  for- 
tune from  my  heart,  and  wished  myself  a  thousand  times 
in  their  place,  though  had  I  been  bound  to  the  Prince- 
ton College,  I  very  much  doubt  whether  I  should  have 
arrived  there  at  all,  or  if  I  had,  my  studies  would  cer- 
tainly not  have  profited  much  thereafter.  I  am  not  sur- 


REBECCA  COLHOON  141 

prised  that  the  theatre  at  Baltimore  doth  not  answer 
your  expectations.  I  have  heard  the  house  spoken  of  as 
being  far  inferior  to  that  of  Philadelphia,  and  the  actors 
I  had  seen,  they  being  the  same  that  perform  in  the  last 
mentioned  city.  To  me  their  gestures  and  looks  always 
appeared  as  distant  from  the  true  expression  of  the  pas- 
sions they  intended  to  represent  as  their  grimaces  are 
different  from  the  manners  of  a  well-bred  man  of  the 
world.  They  seem  in  general  much  more  to  burlesk  real 
life  than  to  represent  it,  and  in  my  opinion  they  succeed 
only  well  in  those  pieces  which  are  merely  calculated  to 
make  the  audience  laugh." 

"I  am  not  astonished,"  says  a  January  letter,  "that 
you  were  highly  delighted  with  the  music  and  the  so- 
lemnity which  accompany  the  Roman  Catholic  worship 
especially  at  Christmas.  .  .  .  There  is  something  so 
grand,  so  solemn  and  so  attracting  in  the  pomp  and 
music  which  accompany  divine  service  in  the  Catholic 
churches,  that  I  have  often  been  heretic  enough  to 
wish  that  something  similar  had  been  instituted  in  our 
Protestant  places  of  worship.  In  Meadville,  at  least, 
such  an  addition  would  be  truly  valuable,  as  it  would 
assist  our  minister  in  fixing  the  attention  of  his  hearers, 
a  thing  in  which  I  am  afraid  he  is  not  always  success- 
ful. .  .  . 

"  Your  friend  Mrs.  Alden  enjoys  good  health ;  she  de- 
lights in  speaking  of  you,  and  looks  forward  with  plea- 
sure to  the  visit  which  you  have  promised  Major  Alden 
to  make  next  summer  to  this  place.  I  hope  most  sin- 
cerely that  nothing  will  hinder  you  from  keeping  your 
word,  for  should  something  intervene  to  prevent  you 
from  coming,  I  know  somebody  who  will  feel  the  disap- 
pointment more  sensibly  than  Mrs.  Alden." 


142  HARM  JAN   HUIDEKOPER 

On  February  13, 1806,  he  records  as  noteworthy,  the 
advent  of  a  young  woman  in  the  society  of  Meadville. 
"  Since  about  a  week  the  monotony  of  our  manner  of 
living  here  has  been  somewhat  enlivened  by  the  arrival 
of  your  acquaintance,  Miss  Ellicott,  who  is  to  spend  a 
few  weeks  in  this  place  with  her  sister.  Nothing  shews 
stronger  how  necessary  the  society  of  your  sex  is  to  the 
happiness  of  ours  than  the  universal  gaiety  which  the 
arrival  of  a  single  lady  has  diffused  amongst  such  a  col- 
lection of  old  batchelors  as  chance  has  assembled  here. 
Miss  Ellicott  is  an  old  acquaintance  of  mine,  whom  I  have 
seen  again  with  pleasure,  the  more,  perhaps,  as  she  often 
speaks  of  you  and  always  in  the  most  flattering  manner." 

On  Miss  Colhoon's  return  to  Pittsburg  he  wrote 
[July  1,  1806]  : 

You  tell  me  that  your  cousin  Wilson  upbraids  you  for 
leaving  her,  and  ask  my  advice,  whether  you  had  not 
better  return  to  Baltimore.  Ah  !  my  best  Friend,  how 
I  should  dread  that  journey,  if  I  could  suppose  but  for 
a  moment  that  you  had  the  least  idea  of  it.  Luckily 
I  do  not  fear  that  such  is  your  intention  at  present, 
and  what  you  add,  that  you  are  quite  contented  at 
Pittsburg,  tranquilises  me  entirely  on  this  head.  .  .  . 
There  is  but  one  journey  which  I  should  see  you  make 
with  pleasure.  You  have  long  promised  Mrs.  Alden  a 
visit,  and  she  is  quite  anxious  to  see  you.  If  you  could 
be  prevailed  on  to  visit  Meadville,  opportunities  will 
probably  not  be  wanting,  as  I  suppose  that  some  of 
your  friends  will  occasionally  visit  Pittsburg  from  here 
during  this  summer  and  the  ensuing  fall.  .  .  . 

Pray  tell  me  how  the  Miss  Simpsons,  Miss  Lane,  and 
especially  your  sisters  do.  I  have  spent  so  many  agree- 
able hours  in  their  company,  and  some  of  them  are  so 
dear  to  you,  that  I  cannot  help  feeling  much  interested 
in  their  welfare.  Miss  Anne's  profile,  which  I  had  so 


KEBECCA  COLHOON  143 

much  trouble  in  getting,  has  got  so  horribly  blackened 
in  the  general  wreck  of 'Colt's  trunk  that  I  can  make 
no  use  of  it.  Another  profile,  which  is  of  much  more 
value  to  me,  has  luckily  escaped  unhurt.  This  is  for  me 
alone.  It  is  the  secret,  the  interesting  object  of  my  con- 
templations in  my  lonely  evenings. 

[July  20,  1806.]  Mrs.  Shreiock,  to  whom  I  paid  a 
visit  this  morning,  informed  me  that  had  it  not  been  for 
the  accidental  absence  of  your  sister,  you  would  have 
accompanied  Mrs.  S.  to  this  place.  Heavens,  what  sen- 
sations did  that  intelligence  awaken  in  me !  Had  Mrs. 
S.  observed  me  at  that  moment  she  might  have  easily 
read  in  my  face  the  mingled  emotions  that  agitated  my 
soul.  I  felt  pleased,  inexpressibly  pleased,  at  the  idea 
that  you  intend  visiting  Mrs.  Alden  this  summer.  Your 
presence,  my  best  friend,  has  become  necessary  to  my 

•_».  J     xl_  £  •*.  £ 

existence,  and  the  prospect  ot  enjoying  it,  even  tor  a 
short  time,  gives  me  the  most  heartfelt  satisfaction.  But 
if  this  consideration  gave  me  pleasure,  it  only  served  to 
brighten  the  sting  of  disappointment  in  having  been 
robbed  by  an  accident  of  the  supreme  felicity  of  seeing 
you.  I  might  willingly  quarrel  with  Doctor  Kennedy 
for  not  determining  at  once  to  stay  a  day  at  Pittsburg, 
by  which  he  would  have  given  you  an  opportunity  of 
informing  your  sister  of  your  intention.  But  for  his 
fickleness  I  should  have  seen  my  dearest  wishes  grati- 
fied, and  I  had  now  been  happy  in  your  company. 

Mrs.  Alden,  however,  has  reenlivened  my  hope.  She 
tells  me  that  she  expects  you  in  two  or  three  weeks, 
when  Mr.  Magaw,  the  brother-in-law  to  Mrs.  Shreiock, 
will  come  up,  who  is  to  accompany  also  a  sister  of  Mrs. 
Baldwin's  to  this  place.  I  shall  now  look  with  impa- 
tience for  his  arrival,  and  Oh !  Becky,  may  I  beg  of 
you,  do  not  disappoint  the  expectations  of  all  your 
friends  here,  for  all  are  anxious  to  see  you.  Since  Mrs. 
Shreiock's  arrival,  you  are  much  the  subject  of  conver- 
sation amongst  your  female  friends,  and  they  all  speak 


144  HARM  JAN  HU1DEKOPER 

of  you  as  if  the  same  sentiment  that  warms  my  bosom 
animated  them.  Tell  me,  my  incomparable  friend,  what 
is  that  secret  irresistible  charm  which  thus  attaches  to 
you  every  person  who  has  the  happiness  of  approaching 
you  ?  Ah  Becky,  why  cannot  I  too  be  amiable  ! 

This  was  the  last  of  his  letters  to  Miss  Colhoon. 
Three  days  later  he  wrote  to  his  brother :  "  I  am  now 
busy  clearing  the  remainder  of  the  land  and  in  erect- 
ing a  barn  and  dwelling  house  for  my  use.  The  clear- 
ing and  the  barn  will  soon  be  finished,  but  the  house 
I  think  will  not  be  completed  before  some  time  next 
spring.  I  have  also  begun  planting  an  orchard,  and 
shall  this  fall  try  to  plant  some  more  fruit  trees  and 
to  bring  the  whole  in  some  degree  of  order.  As  soon 
as  it  has  taken  something  of  a  regular  appearance,  I 
shall  transmit  to  you  a  plan  of  it  in  order  that  you 
may  get  a  better  idea  of  the  whole." 

And  when,  in  August,  the  promised  visit  to  Mrs. 
Alden  was  made,  there  stood  the  home  on  its  way  to- 
ward completion,  some  of  the  fields  cleared  and  culti- 
vated, the  apple  trees  of  the  farm  in  full  bearing. 

With  practical  good  sense,  Rebecca  Colhoon,  when 
she  gave  her  long-withheld  consent,  relinquished  the 
idea  of  a  return  to  Pittsburg,  and  on  the  first  day  of 
September,  1806,  she  was  married  to  Mr.  Huidekoper 
at  Mrs.  Alden's  house.  Pomona  was  occupied  by  them 
in  the  following  spring,  and  then  began  that  long  con- 
tinued tranquil  happiness  which  essentially  character- 
izes Mr.  Huidekoper's  life. 

Upon  hearing  of  the  event  Miss  Wilson  wrote  to  her 
cousin  :  "  It  was  my  intention  to  answer  the  last  let- 
ter that  Miss  Colhoon  wrote  me  before  that  she  had 
changed  her  name :  but  Mr.  Huidekoper's  impatience 


TW 

J; 


z 


145 

it  out  of  my  power,  for  which, 
•     ti  \rnci  tell  him  that  I  shall  bo 
:nd  as  lone  as  he  iu  your  kind  and  affec- 
.  husband  which  I  imp* 
>t>ray  do  let  me  kuow\how  it  happened  that  you 

\     i.nt  t 

irs  of  your  wedding,  anck  also  whether  you  have 
forgot  the  promise  that  you  made  me  make  before  you 
Baltimore,  i  than  appeared 

ud  ioV>it 

y 

marriage  Mrew  from 
Her  husbaud,\Anne  Huide- 

had  then 
^  ed  together,  and,  after  dm- 

: A 


Pieter,  an 


•eveen,  April  20,  1807.] 

JT^^' 

,  HTEK  :  Yo  or  agreeable  let- 
us  on  the  27th  of  March,  and 
.t  you  were  all  well,  and  also,  my 
had  succeeded  in  your  intention 
frri*d   state,  and  I  congratulate 
ri;at  the  Supreme  Omnipotence 
>  permit  you  to  live  long 


a  ~ 


Tftri*~- 

m  •» 
l*«  ro 


!  iS"  G  "     -" 

•ri 


REBECCA  COLHOON  145 

to  get  into  chains  put  it  out  of  my  power,  for  which, 
give  my  love  to  him  and  tell  him  that  I  shall  be  his 
debtor  and  friend  as  long  as  he  is  your  kind  and  affec- 
tionate husband  which  I  hope  will  be  as  long  as  I  live. 
But  pray  do  let  me  know  how  it  happened  that  you 
were  married  at  Meadville.  I  want  to  know  all  the  par- 
ticulars of  your  wedding,  and  also  whether  you  have 
forgot  the  promise  that  you  made  me  make  before  you 
left  Baltimore.  If  what  you  then  appeared  to  dread 
should  ever  happen  (which  God  forbid)  I  am  willing  to 
undertake  the  charge." 

The  letters  announcing  to  Mr.  Huidekoper's  mother, 
in  Holland,  the  news  of  the  marriage  drew  from  her 
an  affectionate  response.  Her  husband,  Anne  Huide- 
koper,  had  died  in  1799,  and  she  had  then  left  the 
house  in  which  they  had  lived  together,  and,  after  dis- 
posing of  a  large  portion  of  her  household  goods,  had 
removed  to  a  smaller  home,  near  the  church,  in  Hooge- 
veen.  There  she  passed  the  remainder  of  her  years, 
relieved  from  all  pecuniary  care  by  the  yearly  remit- 
tances sent  to  her  by  her  son  in  America,  and  thankful 
to  outlive  her  invalid  daughter,  who  required  incessant 
nursing  and  care.  Her  letter  to  Harm  Jan,  Pieter,  and 
the  new  daughter  ran :  — 

[Hoogeveen,  April  20,  1807.] 

BELOVED  SONS  AND  DAUGHTER  :  Your  agreeable  let- 
ters of  November  reached  us  on  the  27th  of  March,  and 
we  saw  with  pleasure  that  you  were  all  well,  and  also,  my 
dear  Harm  Jan,  that  you  had  succeeded  in  your  intention 
of  entering  into  the  married  state,  and  I  congratulate 
you  sincerely,  and  hope  that  the  Supreme  Omnipotence 
and  ruler  of  all  our  destinies  may  permit  you  to  live  long 

1  Translated  from  the  Dutch  by  Mr.  Otto  Von  Klock. 


146  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

in  happiness  and  prosperity  in  the  enjoyment  of  Heaven's 
greatest  blessings ;  that  He  may  bestow  on  you  all  those 
gifts  which  may  work  to  your  greatest  happiness  both 
in  time  and  eternity  is  my  most  earnest  wish. 

I  am  surprised  that  you  did  not  hint  at  this  in  your 
letter  in  August,  you  have  wished  to  surprise  us ;  but 
our  friends  from  the  far  country  who  have  been  here 
with  us  in  August  have  told  us  that  they  had  heard  that 
you  were  working  in  that  direction,  and  the  building  of 
your  house  confirmed  it  in  my  mind.  I  have  nothing  to 
say  against  it ;  it  is  most  natural  that  he  who  has  been 
roving  around  for  some  twenty  years  should  at  last  desire 
to  set  up  an  independent  establishment ;  but  it  weakens 
my  hope  of  seeing  you  here  once  more,  to  which  we  all 
looked  forward  more  or  less.  Had  I  the  promise  that 
should  the  Lord  prolong  our  lives  I  might  once  more 
embrace  all  my  dear  ones,  it  would  render  my  life  much 
happier.  I  can  see  that  you  are  now  extremely  occupied  ; 
you  do  not  even  tell  us  particularly  whether  your  wife 
is  of  a  Dutch  or  an  American  family,  whether  she  is 
from  the  city  or  a  native  of  your  part  of  the  country, 
whether  she  has  any  parents  or  relatives,  and  how 
old  she  is.  I  hope  that  at  a  future  time  you  will  in- 
form us. 

And  you,  dear  Piet,  I  congratulate  you  on  your  new 
sister  and  hope  that  you  may  enjoy  all  the  happiness 
which  may  be  asked  in  a  well  arranged  household.  .  .  . 

We  are  sending  this  on  your  birthday,  H.  Jan,  and 
are  going  to  celebrate  it  by  baking  a  birthday  cake ; 
this  we  have  also  done  for  Piet.  Do  you  often  think 
of  us? 

By  the  time  this  letter  reached  them  they  were  prob- 
ably living  in  their  newly  furnished  house. 

But  it  is  tune  to  inquire  what  the  autobiography 
says  of  this  period.  Of  the  narrative  just  related  Mr. 
Huidekoper  gives,  in  the  months  immediately  following 


REBECCA  COLHOON  147 

his  wife's  death  in  1839,  a  formal  and  brief  version. 
At  that  particular  time  he  could  not  without  too  much 
pain  indulge  even  his  children  with  more  details. 

Having  now  concluded  to  make  Meadville  my  perma- 
nent place  of  residence,  I  purchased,  in  the  early  part 
of  1805,  the  spot  of  ground  on  which  I  now  reside,  and 
contracted  for  the  building  of  the  house  in  which  the 
family  now  live.  When  I  purchased  this  property,  no 
part  of  it  was  cleared  and  enclosed  except  the  fields 
South  of  the  house.  The  rest  of  it  was  all  in  a  State 
of  nature,  except  that  all  the  handsome  forest  trees  par- 
ticularly on  what  forms  now  the  Yard,  had  been  cut 
down  and  carried  off  for  building  or  firewood.  The 
Shade  trees  in  the  Yard  and  the  fruit  trees  in  the  or- 
chards are,  with  some  few  exceptions,  all  of  my  planting. 
Having  thus  made  provision  for  a  house  of  my  own,  my 
next  care  was  to  look  round  for  a  partner  to  share  it 
with  me.  On  the  1st  September  1806  I  was  married  to 
Your  excellent  Mother,  who,  for  upwards  of  thirty-three 
Years  was  the  faithful  and  affectionate  partner  of  my 
life. 

Pomona  fronted  upon  the  old  Indian  trail,  by  that 
time  transformed  to  Water  Street,  which  bordered  the 
meadows  of  French  Creek.  This  was  in  the  line  of  the 
main  thoroughfare  between  Erie  and  Pittsburg,  along 
which  the  mail  carrier  clattered  or  splashed  once  a  week, 
bearing  at  first  his  whole  burden  in  his  pockets,  after- 
wards requiring  saddle-bags  or  a  pouch  strapped  behind, 
still  later  an  extra  horse  for  the  increased  pack,  and  finally 
a  horse  and  wagon.  The  first  stage  arrived  in  Meadville 
on  the  7th  of  November,  1820.  Across  the  road  and 
beyond  the  meadows  was  the  one  effective  route  of  trans- 
portation, the  creek,  on  which  the  busy  housekeeper,  if 
she  could  pause  long  enough  to  look  from  her  window, 


148  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

could  see  the  boats,  laden  with  supplies  from  the  out- 
side world,  passing  up  stream  from  Franklin  and  Pitts- 
burg,  and  down  from  Waterford  and  Erie. 

The  house  itself l  was  a  building  seventy-six  feet  long, 
with  a  central  portion  and  two  wings,  the  latter  stand- 
ing somewhat  back  from  the  front  line.  Across  the  front 
door  a  square  porch,  with  a  seat  on  the  right  and  on  the 
left,  led  into  the  middle  hall.  The  parlor,  on  the  north, 
and  the  dining-room,  on  the  south,  opened  out  of  this 
hall ;  they  were  rooms  ten  feet  high,  and  were  flanked 
in  the  wings  by  the  office  and  the  kitchen.  Above,  in 
the  second  story,  were  two  large  bedrooms  and  one  small 
one.  Over  these  an  unplastered  attic  contained  a  sleep- 
ing-room for  the  "  hired  girls." 

A  semicircular  driveway,  bordered  by  locust-trees, 
gave  access  to  the  house,  and  a  stately  row  of  Lom- 
bardy  poplars  drew  with  an  air  of  foreign  precision  the 
line  between  the  lawn  and  the  street.  So  much  for  the 
exterior  of  the  home  in  which  the  young  wife  entered 
upon  her  duties.  Those  duties,  —  it  were  well  to  take  a 
long  breath  before  trying  to  enumerate  the  half  of 
them. 

Hers  was  from  the  outset  a  complex  household. 
Besides  Mr.  Huidekoper  and  herself,  there  was  Pieter, 
who  was  always  welcomed  and  considered  an  integral 
part  of  the  family.  There  was  the  clerk,  after  Pieter 
had  ceased  to  act  as  his  brother's  assistant,  who  slept  in 
the  office,  but  ate  with  the  rest.  There  were  the  hired 
man,  who  must  have  a  bunk  somewhere,  and  the  maid- 
servants occupying  the  attic,  and  the  extra  helpers  who 
expected  to  share  the  kitchen  meals,  while  the  dining- 

1  For  most  of  the  description  which  follows  see  Pomona  Hall,  by  Alfred 
Huidekoper,  and  also  Manuscript  Autobiography  of  Frederic  Huidekoper. 


REBECCA  COLHOON  149 

room  must  always  have  space  at  its  generous  board  for 
the  chance  guest.  This  was  only  the  beginning.  When 
the  house  was  filled  not  only  with  its  own  little  chil- 
dren, but  with  Mrs.  Hazlett's  family,  as  well  as  Lydia 
Colhoon  and  her  young  companions,  responsibilities 
multiplied. 

Consider  merely  the  task  of  procuring  and  preparing 
the  food  for  all  these,  when  the  grocer,  the  butcher, 
and  the  baker  were  scarcely  relied  on  at  all  for  daily 
demands.  A  large  supply  of  provisions  must  be  kept 
on  hand  and  unceasingly  replenished.  The  summer 
fruit  must  be  preserved  and  set  away  in  great  crocks 
for  winter  use,  the  autumn  apples  must  be  pared  and 
strung  for  drying,  while  the  winter  vegetables  must  be 
stowed  away  in  the  "  cave."  This  cave  was  an  immense 
storehouse  hollowed  out  in  the  earth  and  "  walled  up 
some  three  feet  high  at  the  sides  and  some  eight  or  ten 
at  the  gable  ends.  Heavy  split  timbers  resting  on  the 
walls  met  at  the  ridge-pole,  and  these  being  covered 
with  earth  and  turfed  over  made  the  structure  frost- 
proof." l  It  was  capable  of  holding  several  hundred 
bushels  of  potatoes,  as  well  as  a  quantity  of  turnips, 
beets,  carrots,  pumpkins,  etc.  When  it  overflowed,  as 
it  frequently  did,  smaller  basins  of  deposit  were  dug ; 
and  these  were  filled  with  fresh  straw,  and  their  con- 
tents covered  with  from  twelve  to  fifteen  inches  of 
earth. 

Absorbing  days  were  those  devoted  to  the  meat  sup- 
ply, when  a  deer,  a  hog,  or  a  steer  was  to  be  cut  up, 
and  certain  parts  set  aside  for  immediate  consumption, 
while  hams  and  shoulders  were  carried  to  the  smoke- 
house to  be  cured  and  kept  for  future  use.  The  great 

1  Manuscript  Autobiography  of  Frederic  Huidekoper. 


150  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

kettles  of  the  household  then  were  in  requisition  for 
trying  out  suet  and  lard.  Hung  on  the  crane,  —  the 
copper  kettle  for  boiling  water  held  twelve  gallons  and 
called  for  the  strength  of  two  persons  when  it  had  to 
be  lifted  upon  its  hook,  —  these  immense  vessels  were 
swung  into  the  huge  fireplace  and  tended  until  the  pro- 
cess of  separating  the  fat  from  the  cracklings  was  com- 
plete. Then  the  suet  or  beef  tallow  could  be  made  into 
candles  dipped  or  moulded,  while  the  lard  was  saved  for 
cooking  or  for  use  in  the  lamps.  A  little  patty-pan, 
filled  with  lard,  and  with  a  bit  of  twisted  paper  for  a 
wick,  generally  lighted  in  the  evening  the  passage 
between  the  kitchen  and  the  dining-room. 

The  fire  in  the  fireplace  had  of  course  to  be  kept 
over  night.  Each  morning,  when  the  coals  were  uncov- 
ered the  hired  men  would  bring  in  the  back-log,  four 
feet  long,  and  settle  it  in  its  bed.  It  was  expected  to 
last  all  day.  The  men  would  also  pile  on  sufficient 
other  wood  to  start  the  day's  work  well,  and  would 
supply  the  wood-box  with  its  usual  two  heaping  wheel- 
barrow loads  of  round  sticks ;  after  which  the  fire- 
place was  left  to  the  girls.  On  baking  day  the  brick 
oven,  four  feet  deep  and  thirty  inches  wide,  demanded 
an  especial  kind  of  fuel.  The  best  hickory,  split  to 
the  width  of  a  man's  thumb,  made  the  hottest  bed  of 
coals.  When  the  bread  was  ready,  out  came  the  coals, 
and  in  went  the  loaves,  thrust  into  place  with  the  help 
of  a  long-handled  wooden  shovel.1 

When  her  sisters,  Elizabeth  Hazlett  and  Lydia  Col- 
hoon,  came  to  live  with  her,  they  undertook  the  care  of 
the  garden.  This  was  reached  by  a  path  from  the  rear 
of  the  house  and  entered  through  a  gate  which  now 

1  Manuscript  Autobiography  of  Frederic  Huidekoper. 


REBECCA  COLHOON  151 

opens  upon  Pomona  Street.  It  consisted  of  about  an 
acre  of  ground,  bordered  by  currant  and  gooseberry 
bushes,  and  checkered  into  squares  for  the  experiments 
Mr.  Huidekoper  loved  to  make  in  horticulture,  for  his 
table  vegetables,  for  the  old-time  herbs,  mint,  thyme, 
horehound,  catnip,  camomile,  sage,  and  for  the  flowers. 
In  the  long  beds  flanking  the  central  walk,  succeeding 
springs  brought  out  the  hyacinths,  tulips,  and  lilacs; 
peonies,  roses,  and  snowballs  followed;  and  the  mid- 
summer blossoms,  lilies,  sweet-williams,  the  scarlet  lych- 
nis, and  the  orange  asclepias,kept  the  procession  going;1 
while  Johnny-jump-ups  raised  their  bright  faces  to  the 
sky  through  all  but  the  very  coldest  months  of  the  year. 

The  overseeing  of  barn,  stables,  and  poultry-yard  was 
more  in  the  province  of  the  master  of  the  house,  but  in 
Mr.  Huidekoper's  frequent  absences  some  of  the  respon- 
sibility for  the  proper  management  of  these  also  fell 
upon  his  wife.  The  stable  of  five  stalls,  the  nursery  for 
young  calves,  the  sheepfolds  for  one  or  two  hundred 
sheep,2  the  hen-house  containing  as  many  fowls,  the 
dovecote,  the  cow-house,  furnished,  after  the  Dutch 
fashion,  with  a  trench  at  the  rear  of  the  cattle,  like  that 
in  our  model  cow-barns  to-day,3  all  presented  claims  for 
attention. 

Sometimes,  though  rarely,  Mrs.  Huidekoper  was  the 
one  to  leave  home.  During  a  visit  paid  by  her  to  Pitts- 
burg  in  the  spring  of  1808  her  husband  wrote  to  her  :  — 

"  Meadville,  May  24,  1808. 

..."  My  heart  and  my  thoughts  are  full  of  you,  but 
I  have  little  time  for  writing  at  this  moment ;  I  have 

1  See  Pomona  Hall. 

2  Mr.  Huidekoper  imported  a  number  of  merino  sheep. 

3  See  Pomona  Hall. 


152  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

spent  the  whole  day  till  evening  in  settling  the  taxes 
with  our  commissioners,  and  now,  by  candle-light,  I  am 
preparing  the  papers  for  Beatty's  and  Brady's  settle- 
ments. To-morrow  evening  Lefevre  and  myself  set  out 
to  see  those  two  agents.  We  will  have  Mr.  Marlin's 
company  as  far  as  Franklin.  I  would  willingly  escape 
and  follow  him  to  Pittsburg,  but  that  at  present  is  not 
in  my  power.  At  all  events,  I  am  glad  we  are  going  to 
leave  this  place,  for  home  is  so  different  from  what  it 
was  when  you  were  here  that  it  has  fairly  become  irk- 
some to  me.  We  shall  be  absent  about  8  or  10  days 
after  which  we  begin  our  western  tour  from  which  I 
mean  not  to  return  until  I  have  been  at  Pittsburg  to 
bring  you  home." 

Notwithstanding  all  the  demands  upon  her  strength, 
time,  and  patience,  Rebecca  Colhoon  still  preserved  her 
own  serenity,  and  diffused  about  her  that  sense  of  well- 
being,  quiet,  and  comfort  that  only  efficient  rule  can 
produce.  "  No  one  seeing  her  quietly  plying  her  knit- 
ting needles  in  the  social  circle  after  tea,  would  have 
supposed  her,"  says  her  son,  "  the  moving  power,  like 
the  unseen  mainspring  of  a  watch,  that  kept  so  much 
machinery  in  action  under  orderly  adjustment." 

Children  came  early  and  in  abundance  to  Pomona. 
In  the  summer  of  1807  a  daughter  was  born,  whose  rare 
promise,  and  engaging  qualities  made  themselves  felt 
even  in  the  short  year  of  her  infant  life. 

Says  Mr.  Huidekoper  in  the  autobiography  :  — 

From  the  summer  of  1806  to  the  fall  of  1809 1  lived 
quietly  at  home,  and  I  should  have  been  the  happiest  of 
the  happy,  had  it  not  been  for  one  afflictive  dispensa- 
tion of  Providence.  In  August  1807  Your  Mother  had 
presented  me  with  a  daughter.  It  was  one  of  the  finest 


REBECCA  COLHOON  153 

and  sweetest  children  I  have  ever  seen.  My  soul  doated 
on  her.  It  pleased  Heaven  to  take  her  away  when  she 
was  nearly  a  Year  old.  You,  My  Children,  who  know 
how  fond  I  have  always  been  of  Children,  can  form 
some  faint  idea  of  what  I  felt  on  that  occasion.  Even 
now,  after  a  lapse  of  more  than  thirty  two  Years  it  gives 
me  pain  to  think  of  that  loss.  May  God  Almighty,  My 
dear  Children,  preserve  You  ever  from  similar  bereave- 
ments. 

In  a  letter  to  his  brother  [July  27, 1810]  Mr.  Huide- 
koper  wrote  of  the  second  child  :  — 

My  little  Frederic  tho'  of  a  delicate  make  grows  very 
well  and  is  a  charming  prattling  boy.  The  W  in  his 
name  that  you  enquire  about  stands  for  Wolthers,  he 
having  at  my  Rebecca's  request  been  called  for  my 
mother.  You  will  see  that  his  name  at  all  events  is  long 
enough,  but  as  mothers  have  so  much  the  hardest  time 
with  children,  I  think  they  may  at  least  be  indulged  in 
their  innocent  fancies  about  a  name.  On  the  21st  of 
March  last  my  Rebecca  has  made  me  a  present  of  an- 
other fine  boy  whom  we  have  called  Alfred.  He  is  a  fine 
healthy  child  and  grows  like  cabbage.  You  see  from 
this,  my  dear  brother,  that  my  family  affairs  in  this  re- 
spect go  on  as  prosperously  as  I  could  wish,  and  that  if 
my  Rebecca  and  I  live  and  continue  to  be  blessed  with 
health  we  have  the  prospect  of  being  soon  surrounded 
by  a  numerous  progeny  of  children.  I  can  assure  you 
I  am  glad  of  it.  Children  have  always  been  my  delight, 
and  we  live  in  a  country  in  which  there  is  elbow-room 
for  several  succeeding  generations  yet. 

For  eight  years  Frederic  was  a  constant  source  of  joy  ; 
then,  as  Mr.  Huidekoper  records  in  the  autobiography, 
he  died. 

In  the  Year  1816,  I  met  with  an  afflictive  loss,  in 
the  death  of  my  eldest  son,  Frederic  Wolthers.  The 


154  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPEK 

day  before  his  death,  I  had  set  out  for  Philadelphia, 
leaving  him,  as  I  thought,  very  slightly  indisposed.  He 
died  in  consequence  of  the  rupture  of  an  abscess  in  his 
lungs ;  and  an  express  brought  me  the  tidings  of  his  death 
at  Mercer,  where  I  had  been  detained  a  day  by  the 
rain ;  so  that  I  had  the  melancholy  satisfaction  of  being 
present  at  his  funeral.  My  Frederic  was  a  fine  intelli- 
gent child.  In  idea  I  had  connected  him  with  all  my 
future  plans  of  life.  Long  and  deeply  did  I  mourn  his 
loss ;  but  yet  I  did  not  feel  on  this  occasion  that  sick- 
ening and  heartrending  sensation  which  I  had  experi- 
enced on  the  death  of  my  first  Anna. 

Another  son,  Edgar,  as  well  as  the  second  Anna,  had 
come  before  the  death  of  Frederic  Wolthers,  so  that  the 
nursery  was  never  again  emptied  save  by  the  happy 
maturing  of  its  occupants,  and  all  these,  as  well  as  the 
son  Frederic  born  in  1817,  and  the  youngest  daughter, 
Elizabeth,  grew  up  in  the  homestead,  united  in  their 
devotion  to  their  parents  and  their  loyalty  to  each  other, 
forming,  with  their  many  and  varied  interests,  and  the 
friends  that  gathered  about  them,  a  vigorous,  interest- 
ing world  of  their  own.  All  that  they  desired  or  could 
need  was  by  their  father's  provident  watchfulness  brought 
to  their  door.1  And  the  same  "  faculty  "  which  Rebecca 
Colhoon  exercised  in  the  management  of  her  servants 
stood  her  in  good  stead  when  several  babies  were  to  be 
cared  for  at  once.  Did  one  need  fresh  air  while  the 
next  slept,  the  saddle-horse  or  the  carriage  would  be 
ordered,  and  round  and  round  on  the  drive-way  the 

1  To  his  brother  he  wrote,  July  27,  1810 :  "  The  expense  of  maintain- 
ing a  family  living  in  the  way  I  do  will  average  about  $1400  or  $1600  a 
year.  It  is  true  my  family  in  general  is  numerous,  and  I  am  perhaps  sub- 
ject to  some  expense  on  account  of  my  being  an  agent  that  could  be 
otherwise  avoided,  but  it  would  be  imprudent  to  calculate  the  family 
expenses  independent  of  my  agency  less  than  $1200  or  $1400  annually." 


REBECCA  COLHOON  155 

mother  and  child  would  ride  or  drive,  remaining  near 
at  hand  for  the  expected  summons  to  the  second  claim- 
ant. Often  the  state  of  the  roads  alone  would  limit 
exercise  to  home  bounds,  and  they  were  wide  enough 
to  answer  every  purpose.  The  boys  in  winter  coasted 
down  the  snow-covered  roof  of  the  cave;  in  summer 
roamed  their  own  woods  and  fields,  played  hide  and 
seek  among  the  cocks  of  hay,  and  rode  homeward  on 
top  of  the  loads  with  the  haymakers. 

During  some  of  the  earlier  years,  before  the  advent 
of  the  tutors,  their  education  was  begun  at  one  or  an- 
other of  the  village  schools.  At  the  school  of  a  Mr. 
Douglas,  on  Arch  Street,  the  taws  were  still  in  use  when 
the  little  Frederic  was  sent  there  to  begin  his  education. 
His  experience  was  limited  to  one  week  with  that 
master. 

A  gentler  instructor  was  Mr.  Leffingwell,  advanced 
in  years,  and  leaving  in  the  boy's  mind  the  grateful  and 
no  doubt  astonishing  remembrance  of  great  kindness 
and  condescension,  for  it  was  recorded  many  years  after- 
ward that  on  one  occasion  when  the  soot  in  the  stove- 
pipe took  fire,  and  the  child  was  terrified,  Mr.  Leffing- 
well himself  undertook  to  quiet  him,  and  talked  to  him 
soothingly  until  the  disturbance  was  over.  This  school 
was  near  the  southeast  corner  of  Water  and  Walnut 
streets,  not  too  far  for  walking  in  ordinary  weather, 
but  far  enough  to  make  the  timely  help  of  two  of  the 
men  on  horseback  very  welcome  when  deep  mud  made 
the  way  well-nigh  impassable,  or  if  the  two  children, 
Frederic  and  Anna,  as  on  one  day  of  fear,  had  been 
watching  the  thunder-heads  gather  and  close  threaten- 
ingly over  their  homeward  path.  The  brother  and  sister 
also  went,  afterwards,  and  for  a  longer  period,  to  the 


156  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

school  taught  by  Miss  Benedict,  where  "  spelling  down  " 
in  rival  rows,  was  the  grand  achievement.  Here  the  lit- 
tle ones  sat  on  their  hard  benches,  from  nine  o'clock 
until  twelve,  and  again  from  one  until  five,  every  day 
of  the  hot  inland  summer,  every  day  of  the  cold  damp 
winter,  save  only  through  Christmas  week,  their  sole 
vacation  of  the  long  year.1  A  welcome  diversion  was 
that  made  by  Miss  Benedict's  father,  who  would  come 
riding  up  to  the  open  door  at  noon,  in  apple  time,  with 
a  full  bag  of  fruit  from  his  farm,  and  empty  it  upon 
the  schoolroom  floor  to  see  the  youngsters  scramble  for 
it.  Most  of  the  events,  however,  were  of  a  punitive 
character,  better  adapted  to  the  enlivening  of  reminis- 
cence than  for  cheering  the  depressed  spirits  of  those 
who  shared  in  them.  For  instance,  to  stand  a  child  on 
the  stove  and  then  proceed  in  a  leisurely  manner  to 
light  the  fire  was  a  method  once  resorted  to  in  that 
schoolroom.  For  older  boys  there  was  the  academy,  a 
one-story  brick  building  containing  two  rooms,  in  which 
Latin  and  Greek,  and  the  common  English  branches 
were  taught. 

Year  by  year  Rebecca  Colhoon's  quietly  busy  days 
sped  on.  In  each  of  these  days  the  occupations  were 
manifold.  Her  part  it  was  to  rise  by  candlelight, — 
the  candles  were  of  home  manufacture,  costing  much 
labor  from  first  to  last,  —  to  set  all  the  household  ma- 
chinery in  motion ;  to  cut  out  and  stitch,  albeit  with 
assistance,  the  "  red  flannel  for  Frederic's  suit "  or  the 
dresses  for  the  little  Anna,  to  nurse  the  frequently 
recurring  sore  throats,  and  to  support  the  little  patients 
through  the  regular  course  of  treatment  invariably  pre- 
scribed by  the  doctor,  —  first  an  emetic,  then  such 

1  Manuscript  Autobiography  of  Frederic  Huidekoper. 


REBECCA  COLHOON  157 

drugs  as  rhubarb,  calomel,  and  gamboge,  and,  finally, 
if  fever  set  in,  application  of  leeches  or  the  lancet.  How 
thankful  she  must  have  been  when  she  discovered  that 
keeping  their  feet  dry  in  calfskin  boots  would  lessen 
the  number  of  colds,  and  how  keen  was  the  disappoint- 
ment when,  on  trying  on  her  first  pair  of  rubber  shoes, 
—  the  first  pair,  indeed,  ever  brought  to  Meadville,  — 
she  found  that  they  had  been  moulded  on  a  perfectly 
flat  board,  and  could  not  be  worn  at  all. 

No  one  could  so  sympathetically  listen  to  the  griev- 
ances of  Pieter  or  to  the  petitions  of  the  children  as 
this  ever  present,  ever  self-forgetting  mistress  of  the 
house ;  no  one  else  could  so  effectually  smooth  the  way 
for  a  happy  solution  of  difficulties.  It  was  a  life  which 
brought  its  own  rewards,  and  not  least  among  them 
was  the  affectionate  reverence  which  came  to  her,  not 
only  from  her  own  home,  but  from  many  outside  her 
walls,  to  whom  her  thoughtful  kindliness  went  out  in 
good  offices  without  number. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  AMERICAN 

BY  the  time  that  Mr.  Huidekoper  had  taken  upon  him- 
self the  western  agency  and  the  responsibilities  of  a 
householder,  his  brother's  wish  had  been  fulfilled,  —  the 
Hollander  in  him  had  practically  been  superseded  by 
the  American.  He  threw  himself  heartily  into  the  work 
of  opening  the  country,  and  even  had  visions  of  a 
model  settlement,  founded  by  himself  and  named  for 
Mr.  Busti,  one  that  by  its  superior  situation  —  it  was 
to  be  at  the  forking  of  the  Baldeagle  Road,  in  tract 
number  ninety  of  the  East  Allegheny  lands  —  should 
outrival  Franklin  as  a  county  town. 

Franklin,  he  said,  although  both  he  and  Mr.  Busti 
had  at  first  thought  of  it  as  a  possible  place  for  his 
home,  was  too  far  away  from  the  lands  under  his  care, 
and  also  too  inaccessible.  "  There  is  not  a  wagon  road 
that  goes  through  it  or  can  go  through  it,"  he  declared, 
"  on  account  of  the  terrible  hills."  Meadville  itself  was 
rather  distant,  and  the  East  Allegheny  district  attracted 
him  more.  Although  the  region  was  "  a  perfect  wilder- 
ness, without  any  inhabitants,"  he  did  not  object  to 
that.  "A  couple  of  years,"  he  assured  his  brother,1 
"  will  bring  inhabitants  enough  to  that  quarter,  and 
to  indemnify  me  for  a  few  hardships  and  privations  I 
shall  have  the  pleasure  to  witness  all  the  progress  of 
a  new  colony,  and  will  not  have  to  contend  with  the 

1  Letter  of  December  14, 1804. 


THE  AMERICAN  159 

plans  made  by  others.  .  .  .  You  are  able  to  judge 
how  much  more  pleasing  those  occupations  are  than 
the  dull,  sedentary  life  I  led  in  the  city,  and  I  should 
have  wished  nothing  more  than  ...  to  be  assisted 
by  you."  "  This  new  town,"  he  wrote  to  Mr.  Busti, 
"I  intended,  under  your  approbation,  to  make  my 
place  of  residence,  as  soon  as  the  business  in  the  first 
and  second  districts  here  shall  be  brought  in  order." 
But  Mr.  Busti  seems  to  have  thrown  cold  water  on  the 
scheme,  for  Mr.  Huidekoper's  next  words  to  him  on  the 
subject,  partly  whimsical,  partly  regretful,  are,  "  I  had 
not  in  the  least  set  my  heart  upon  the  new  purchase 
I  offered  to  make;  ...  it  never  interested  me  half  so 
much  as  the  building  of  my  new  city,  to  which,  how- 
ever, you  refuse  to  lend  your  name,  although  Bustia 
or  Bustida  would  be  a  much  better  name  than  those  of 
one  half  the  new  towns." 1 

His  desire  to  erect  his  own  little  Utopia,  or  Bustida, 
never  having  been  realized,  he  identified  himself  com- 
pletely with  the  interests  of  Meadville,  and  ever  had 
the  welfare  of  the  place  at  heart. 

As  to  his  own  path  toward  prosperity,  though  its 
course  was  upward,  it  was  not  free  from  thorns.  He  oc- 
casionally came  to  times  of  financial  stringency,  when 
there  was  an  absolute  dearth  of  ready  money  with  which 
to  meet  the  obligations  of  the  Company  or  the  expenses 
of  his  own  household.  One  of  these  times  was  in  1806, 
when  he  hailed  with  thankfulness  the  advent  of  "a 
couple  of  wealthy  farmers"  who  had  purchased  land 
from  some  of  the  Company's  settlers,  thereby  enabling 
them  to  pay  some  of  their  dues.  He  wrote  to  Mr. 
Busti : 2  — 

1  Letter  of  April  10, 1805.  a  Letter  of  August  28,  1806. 


160  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

I  have  by  their  means  got  a  hundred  dollars  cash,  of 
which  I  stood  in  the  utmost  need.  I  cannot  describe 
to  you  the  anxiety  and  vexation  which  my  pecuniary 
arrangements  have  given  me  since  some  weeks.  In 
referring  to  my  last  report  you  will  find  that  I  re- 
mained about  $448  in  debt  to  Mr.  Marlin  and  the  Su- 
pervisors of  Warren  County.  Besides  this  I  had  to  pro- 
vide for  the  payment  of  the  taxes  for  Venango  County 
for  the  year  1805  amounting  to  about  $130  and  for  the 
taxes  for  1806  east  and  west  of  the  river.  The  settlers 
also  called  daily  for  the  repayment  of  their  taxes  which 
since  six  or  eight  years  they  had  paid  on  the  Company's 
share  of  the  land.  Add  to  this  the  advances  necessary 
for  the  surveyors  and  the  disbursements  which  I  have 
to  make  in  completing  my  house,  office  and  barn,  and 
you  will  not  be  astonished  if  I  sometimes  was  discour- 
aged with  the  difficulty  of  meeting  all  those  demands, 
and  of  keeping  up  that  reputation  for  punctuality  in 
money  matters  which  the  Company  has  always  enjoyed, 
and  which  it  is  of  so  much  consequence  to  preserve. 
This  must  be  my  apology  if  instead  of  remitting  I  have 
lately  been  obliged  to  draw  on  you  for  $625.  When  it 
will  be  in  my  power  to  refund  that  money  I  cannot  tell, 
and  I  will  no  more  depend  on  illusory  promises  the 
falacity  [fallaciousness]  of  which  I  experience  every 
day.  As  for  collecting  the  debts  due  by  suits,  this  will 
answer  in  some  particular  instances  .  .  .  but  generally 
such  methods  would  be  unavailing,  because  at  present 
there  is  no  money  in  the  country,  and  I  can  nearly  trace 
every  cent  I  receive  to  its  having  been  lately  brought 
from  the  old  settlements  in  the  lower  part  of  the  State. 

To  these  vexations  another  was  added  at  this  same 
period  by  a  slanderous  attack  made  upon  him  with,  he 
said,  "  all  the  malice  of  a  demon "  in  the  Meadville 
newspaper  by  one  who  hoped  to  curry  political  favor  by 
this  action.  A  less  self-controlled  man  than  Mr.  Huide- 


THE  AMERICAN  161 

koper  might  have  been  tempted  to  resort  to  physical 
force  for  redress,  but  he  quietly  and  wisely  trusted  to 
time.  "  I  know,"  he  wrote  to  Mr.  Busti,  in  this  letter  of 
August  28,  "  it  is  customary  enough  to  appeal  to  a  pair 
of  pistols  in  such  cases,  but  I  am  no  duelist,  and  tho' 
like  others  I  might  pluck  up  courage  enough  to  face  a 
pistol,  yet  I  am  not  willing  to  embitter  the  remainder  of 
my  life  by  the  recollection  of  having  murdered  a  fellow 
man."  The  libelous  attack  was  renewed  at  intervals 
through  the  remainder  of  the  summer,  but,  as  Mr. 
Huidekoper  reported  in  October,  only  caused  its  perpe- 
trator to  be  "  shunned  by  the  decent  part  of  the  commu- 
nity "  without  injuring  the  assailed  person  in  the  estima- 
tion of  any  one.  Mr.  Huidekoper  had,  in  fact,  established 
a  reputation  that  could  not  be  placed  in  jeopardy. 

It  was  a  beneficent  oversight  that  he  exercised  in  be- 
half of  the  pioneer  settlers  who  procured  their  forest 
land  of  him  with  barely  enough  cash  in  hand  to  make 
the  preliminary  payment,  and  who  struggled  on  from 
year  to  year,  paying  installment  after  installment  until 
the  whole  sum  was  made  up  and  the  cleared  and  culti- 
vated farms  were  their  own.  He  kept  his  purchasers 
individually  in  mind ;  their  habits  of  industry  or  of  shif  t- 
lessness  were  known  to  him ;  the  exact  amount  of  im- 
provement or  of  neglect  evidenced  by  the  state  of  their 
clearings  stood  on  record  in  his  books ;  and  many  were 
the  instances  in  which  his  considerateness  came  to  the 
assistance  of  the  hard-beset  tillers  of  the  soil,  or  in  which 
his  ingenuity  devised  for  them  ways  and  means  of  les- 
sening their  indebtedness  and  of  keeping  their  land. 

He  would  not  spare  a  dishonest  or  lazy  man ;  such  an 
one  he  held  to  a  strict  account ;  but  those  who  deserved 
his  assistance  always  received  it.  For  example,  a  hard- 


162  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

working  settler,  Daniel  Kane,  who  had  bought  fifty 
acres  of  land  in  Hayfield  township,  promising  to  pay  for 
it  at  the  rate  of  three  dollars  an  acre,  found  the  years 
going  by  without  bringing  him  sufficient  prosperity  to 
get  together  the  expected  installments  of  the  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  dollars  due  to  the  Company.  He  had  re- 
ceived the  usual  notices  from  time  to  time,  but  had  been 
unable  to  respond  to  them  in  any  way.  Finally  a  very 
positive  letter  came,  saying  that  his  contract  would  have 
to  be  foreclosed  and  his  farm  sold  if  he  could  not  do 
something  about  that  debt,  since  so  much  time  had  now 
elapsed  that  his  further  occupancy  would  -endanger  the 
Company's  rights.  Quite  disheartened  and  in  great  per- 
plexity, Kane  consulted  Mr.  Huidekoper,  taking  with 
him  John  McMillen  to  speak  for  him  and  vouch  for  his 
good  intentions. 

McMillen  set  the  case  before  Mr.  Huidekoper.  Here 
was  Kane,  honest  and  industrious,  who  had  made  his 
clearing,  built  himself  a  log  house  and  a  log  stable,  car- 
ried his  bushel  of  corn  to  mill  on  his  back  to  be  ground 
into  meal  for  his  household,  had  raised  a  family  of  chil- 
dren, and  was  the  owner  of  some  steers  and  other  cattle, 
besides  a  drove  of  hogs  rooting  for  themselves  in  the 
woods.  But  he  had  not  any  money,  or  any  cattle  or  steers 
or  grain  that  could  very  well  be  spared  from  the  work 
of  the  farm  or  from  the  sustenance  of  his  family.  What 
could  he  do  ?  Mr.  Huidekoper  proposed  a  solution.  "  If 
you,  McMillen,"  he  said,  "  know  Kane  to  be  the  hon- 
est and  industrious  man  you  have  represented  him  to  be, 
and  can  help  him  to  raise  fifty  dollars,  one  hundred  shall 
be  placed  to  his  credit  on  the  books."  McMillen  pulled 
out  his  pocket-book.  It  held  but  ten  dollars.  He  would 
lend  that,  he  said ;  then  he  took  Kane  by  the  arm  and 


THE  AMERICAN  163 

they  went  out  upon  the  street  to  see  what  could  be  done. 
They  applied  to  Mr.  Shryock.  Yes,  Mr.  Shryock  could 
lend  them  forty  dollars  on  a  note.  Kane's  steers  could 
be  held  as  security  without  depriving  him  of  the  use  of 
them.  They  might  be  left  with  him  to  finish  the  year's 
work,  and  then  sold  to  make  the  payment,  for  by  that 
time  his  second  yoke  of  steers  would  be  two  years  old 
and  ready  for  use.  That  scheme  would  answer.  So  back 
to  Mr.  Huidekoper  McMillen  and  Kane  went  with  the 
fifty  dollars,  and  the  hundred  placed  to  his  credit  showed 
that  his  farm  was  saved. 

In  another  instance  a  man  who  was  trying  to  acquire 
some  of  the  Company's  land  by  adverse  possession  was 
sharply  taken  to  task  by  Mr.  Huidekoper  and  forced  to 
make  regular  payments.  This  man  afterwards  told  Mr. 
Huidekoper  that  having  to  meet  his  obligations  had  re- 
stored his  self-respect,  and  he  expressed  the  greatest 
gratitude  for  having  been  made  an  honest  citizen. 

By  means  like  these  the  country  became  populated 
with  an  excellent  class  of  inhabitants.  One  of  the  early 
buyers  was  Frederick  Stein,  a  German,  who  had  only 
determination  to  start  upon.  With  this  commodity  he 
first  of  all  procured  a  wife.  On  their  marriage  morning 
they  had  just  fifty  cents  between  them.  As  that  be- 
longed to  her,  she  gave  it  to  the  parson  who  married 
them,  and  then  together  they  proceeded  to  choose  a 
farm.  Twenty-four  acres  of  the  beautiful  fertile  rolling 
land  near  Meadville  were  sold  to  them  without  the  usual 
requirement  of  a  cash  deposit,  and  they  set  to  work  to 
clear  and  plant  it.  At  the  end  of  the  first  year  Stein 
appeared  at  Mr.  Huidekoper's  office  with  three  dollars 
and  seventy-five  cents,  the  sum  total  saved  out  of  their 
hard  earnings.  Mr.  Huidekoper  took  the  three  dollars 


164  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

and  seventy-five  cents,  credited  Stein  with  his  payment, 
and  gave  him  a  receipt.  That  scrap  of  paper  is  a  pre- 
cious heirloom  in  the  family.  It  reposes  in  the  old  Dutch 
clock  where  Stein  always  kept  it,  and  is  taken  out  at  times 
with  pride  to  be  shown  to  the  interested  stranger;  for 
Stein  prospered,  and  left  to  his  widow  a  goodly  heritage. 
She,  when  age  came  upon  her,  summoned  her  children 
from  the  farms  round  about,  farms  received  from  their 
father,  and  they  all  came,  and  gathered  near  her  in  the 
old  homestead.  There  she  stood  with  a  table  in  front 
of  her,  on  which  were  piles  of  certificates  of  deposit, 
representing  the  savings  laid  by  by  her  husband  and 
herself  during  all  the  years  that  had  succeeded  that 
scanty  first,  when  three  dollars  and  seventy-five  cents 
looked  so  large.  By  noon  she  had  given  them  all  away. 
For  herself  she  had  reserved  four  thousand  dollars  and 
a  residence  with  one  of  her  flock.  Then  began  conten- 
tion among  the  recipients.  Two  brothers  having  more 
land  than  a  third,  they  evened  that  off  between  them. 
It  was  suggested  that  another  needed  a  new  barn  and  a 
pair  of  horses  —  that  was  attended  to  ;  and  so  it  went 
on,  in  the  greatest  harmony  and  good-will.  Their  com- 
bined possessions  mounted  upwards  beyond  forty  thou- 
sand dollars,  a  good  return  for  the  stock  in  trade  with 
which  their  father  began. 

The  yearly  payments  which  the  farmers  made  in  liqui- 
dation of  their  debts  to  the  Company  were  sometimes 
handed  over  in  cash,  when  cash  was  to  be  had,  but  of- 
tener  they  were  obliged  to  bring  to  Pomona  their  cattle, 
poultry,  or  produce,  of  which  due  account  was  taken. 

Under  Mr.  Huidekoper's  management  a  yearly  drive 
over  the  mountains  of  all  the  livestock  brought  to  him 
by  the  farmers  was  instituted.  He  planned  it  and  saw 


THE  AMERICAN  165 

that  it  was  executed,  occasionally  at  first  even  accompa- 
nying the  drovers  himself ;  for  it  was  no  light  matter 
to  arrange  an  itinerary  over  the  mountains  for  the  dif- 
ferent droves,  whether  of  steers,  hogs,  or  turkeys,  which 
must  arrive  unimpaired  at  the  end  of  their  journey  of 
four  hundred  miles. 

Before  the  setting  out  of  a  drove  of  cattle  came  the 
branding ;  this  accomplished,  off  they  went  on  their 
long  tramp.  Sometimes  as  many  as  three  hundred  cat- 
tle would  fall  to  the  share  of  a  single  veteran  drover, 
with  a  due  quota  of  assistants,  both  men  and  dogs.  Up 
hill  and  down  their  track  ran,  but  it  is  said  that  this 
variety  was  better  for  them,  as  their  muscles  found  re- 
lief in  the  alternation  and  could  endure  an  uneven  route 
better  than  a  monotonously  level  one.  The  first  few 
miles  were  the  worst  for  the  men  and  dogs,  for  while 
the  cows  and  steers  were  still  upon  familiar  ground, 
they  would  make  bold  dashes  for  liberty.  Once  away 
from  their  own  haunts,  however,  they  became  timid  and 
docile,  —  were  road-broken,  as  the  phrase  was,  —  and 
would  jog  on  quietly  at  command.  Often  the  cattle 
must  simply  be  kept  alive  by  foraging  for  themselves 
upon  the  wayside  trees  and  herbs.  That  was  when  they 
were  among  the  mountains  or  in  the  solitary  wilderness. 
When  partially  settled  regions  were  reached,  the  help 
of  the  country  people  could  be  resorted  to,  for,  word 
having  been  sent  in  advance,  at  certain  farms  along 
the  route  good  pasturage  would  be  reserved.  In  large 
fenced-in  fields  of  growing  grass,  the  tired  beasts  could 
be  corralled  and  allowed  to  feed  and  rest ;  while  the 
men  found  entertainment  under  the  farmer's  roof, 
either  of  house  or  barn.  A  charge  of  two,  three,  or 
four  cents  a  head  for  the  cattle  was  the  common  rate 


166  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

at  these  stopping-places.  It  enabled  the  farmer  to  turn 
his  grass  into  money  without  the  labor  of  mowing  or 
pitching.  For  twelve  and  a  half  cents  a  meal,  moreover, 
so  great  was  the  purchasing  power  of  the  scarce  cur- 
rency of  that  day,  the  drovers  could  consume  unlimited 
quantities  of  tea  and  coffee,  bread  and  butter,  or  pork 
and  potatoes,  —  and  in  some  cases  partridges  and  chicken 
pie. 

At  one  time  when  Colonel  Blossom,  Mr.  Huideko- 
per's  clerk,  was  superintending  one  of  these  drives, 
they  came  to  the  farm  of  a  thrifty  German,  where  they 
remained  from  Saturday  night  until  Monday  morning. 
This  German  belonged  to  that  class  of  southeastern 
Pennsylvania  settlers  who  had  emigrated  from  the  Pa- 
latinate during  the  French  and  German  wars.  Like  the 
rest  of  his  class,  he  was  an  excellent  husbandman,  but 
despised  learning,  holding  indeed  that  education  led  to 
idleness.  When  the  time  of  reckoning  came  he  found 
himself  totally  unable,  as  were  also  his  three  grown  sons, 
to  calculate  the  amount  which  he  should  be  paid  for 
keeping  two  hundred  head  of  cattle,  at  two  or  three 
cents  a  head,  and  several  men,  at  twenty-five  cents  each, 
for  that  length  of  time.  He  actually  had  to  send  to  the 
school,  a  mile  away,  —  and  the  Germans  had  mightily 
resisted  the  coming  among  them  of  the  common  schools, 
—  to  fetch  back  his  little  daughter,  that  she  might  help 
him  to  cast  up  this  complicated  account.1 

Were  the  drove  made  up  of  sheep,  the  farmers'  chil- 
dren frequently  became  the  possessors  of  weakling  lambs 
or  exhausted  mothers,  who  were  in  danger  of  falling 
out  of  the  ranks  through  fatigue,  and  little  hangers-on 
would  often  follow  the  drove  for  miles,  in  the  hope  of 

1  Manuscript  Autobiography  of  Frederic  Huidekoper. 


THE  AMERICAN  167 

obtaining  one  of  these  laggards.  As  for  the  turkeys,  as 
many  as  fifteen  hundred  of  these  would  sometimes  be 
collected  for  a  single  drive.  They  needed  great  care 
and  patience ;  during  the  first  days  they  always  grew 
very  foot- sore,  and  must  proceed  by  short  and  easy 
stages  until  their  delicate  birds'  feet  had  been  hardened 
by  use.  Moreover,  shortly  before  sunset,  no  matter 
where  they  might  then  be,  the  whole  flock  would  de- 
terminedly begin  to  roost.  It  was  a  problem  so  to  time 
the  day's  journey  as  to  avoid  being  caught,  for  instance, 
in  a  hackmatack  swamp  when  roosting-time  came,  for 
neither  persuasion  nor  force  could  keep  the  feathered 
travelers  on  the  road  when  instinct  bade  them  perch 
upon  the  nearest  tree. 

Even  to  this  day  there  still  survive  a  few  now  very 
old  men  ready  to  tell  the  story  of  the  especial  tribula- 
tions incident  to  the  role  of  being  guide,  philosopher, 
and  friend  to  each  of  these  separate  classes  of  animals. 
Totally  distinct  vices  seem  to  have  inhered  in  each 
clan,  but  it  is  when  narrating  their  experiences  with 
hogs  that  these  old-time  drovers  wax  most  eloquent. 
Nine  hundred  hogs  meant  to  them  nine  hundred  diabol- 
ical perversities  of  brute  will,  each  on  its  own  divergent 
hoggish  hook,  for  the  hog  follows  no  leader,  acknow- 
ledges no  sway  of  a  consensus  of  opinion  among  his 
kind,  and  is  distinguished  on  such  personally  conducted 
parties  chiefly  by  continuous  outbreaks  of  the  most  origi- 
nal sin.  Nevertheless,  after  due  tribulation  all  these 
droves  were  somehow  convoyed  to  their  destination, 
and  the  money  for  them  was  in  part  paid  over  to  the 
Holland  Land  Company's  office  in  Philadelphia,  in  part 
returned  safely  to  the  little  Western  community  where 
Mr.  Huidekoper's  business  transactions  furnished  the 


168  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

inhabitants  with  a  large  proportion  of  their  available 
cash  supply. 

A  careful  courtesy  marked  Mr.  Huidekoper's  deal- 
ings with  people.  One  who  as  a  young  man  received 
an  ineffaceable  impression  of  this  still  relates  the  inci- 
dent :  "  When  I  first  went  into  business,  in  making  out 
my  monthly  bills  I  had  one  against  Mr.  H.  J.  Huide- 
koper.  I  went  with  him  to  his  office  and  presented  it  to 
him.  He  looked  at  it,  and  promptly  paid  me.  I  natu- 
rally said,  *  I  am  much  obliged,  sir.'  He  immediately 
replied,  '  It  is  not  for  you  to  thank  me,  but  for  me  to 
thank  you,  for  the  reason  that  you  have  been  to  the 
expense  of  having  a  book-keeper,  making  out  your 
account,  and  bringing  it  down  here  and  receipting  it.' 
That  was  my  first  experience  in  business." 

As  settlements  increased,  the  business  of  collecting 
required  visits  to  be  made,  at  least  quarterly,  to  the 
counties  of  Erie,  Warren,  and  Venango,  usually  at  the 
time  when  the  court  was  in  session.  On  court  days 
the  farmers  flocked  to  the  county-seat,  the  taverns  were 
full,  politics  and  local  interests  gathered  disputants  about 
the  great  hickory  log  fire  in  the  evenings,  and  as  most 
of  the  men  had  brought  to  town  all  the  cash  they  could 
command,  collection  was  comparatively  easy.  Mr.  Huide- 
koper,  when  he  could  not  find  his  debtor  in  the  town, 
must  hunt  him  up  at  his  home,  and  he  had  his  regular 
rounds.  These  journeys  had  to  be  made  on  horseback, 
with  papers  and  clothing  carried  in  a  leather  pouch  or 
in  saddle-bags,  over  roads  obstructed  by  floods  and 
broken  bridges,  and  in  winter  through  drifted  snow 
which  hid  the  roots  and  mud-holes.1  At  such  times  the 

1  On  August  1,  1811,  he  wrote  to  Mr.  Busti  :  "Your  .  .  .  lands  east  of 
the  Allegheny  come  in  some  places  down  to  the  river.    Along  the  river 


THE  AMERICAN  169 

qualities  of  Fox,1  his  favorite  horse,  proved  invalua- 
ble. Fox  always  set  out  on  these  expeditions  with  wild 
curvetings  and  prancings,  which  after  a  mile  or  two 
changed  to  a  swift,  sure-footed  gait.  Through  twelve 
years  or  more  he  bore  his  master  with  the  same  exuber- 
ant spirit  over  the  hilly,  stony  roads,  and  he  was  once 
the  sharer  in  an  adventure  which  might  have  had  fatal 
consequences.  While  passing  one  day  in  the  year  1823 
through  a  lonely  stretch  of  forest,  Mr.  Huidekoper  was 
startled  by  a  shot  which  came  from  a  thicket  near  by. 
Fox  instantly  broke  into  a  mad  run,  and  Mr.  Huide- 
koper discovered  that  while  he  himself  was  unwounded, 
his  horse  had  received  a  ball  in  his  side.  As  soon  as 
Fox  could  be  quieted  and  turned,  Mr.  Huidekoper  rode 
back  along  the  path  to  the  place  where  the  shot  had 
been  heard,  but  saw  nothing  of  any  enemy.  He  dis- 
mounted, coolly  picked  up  his  hat,  which  had  fallen  off 
when  the  horse  swerved  under  him,  and  then,  remount- 
ing, rode  away.  Fox  was  left  at  a  farmer's  to  recover 
from  his  injury,  but  he  continued  to  carry  the  ball  in 
his  side  as  long  as  he  lived. 

The  incidents  of  these  expeditions,  however,  were 
usually  of  a  less  serious  nature.  At  Sugar  Grove,  for 
instance,  a  man  entered  the  room  where  Mr.  Huideko- 

there  is  a  narrow  strip  of  land  from  20  to  30  perches  wide.  .  .  .  Would 
you  be  induced  to  sell  me  this  strip,  and  if  so  what  would  be  your  price? 
I  will  tell  you  my  reasons  for  wishing  to  purchase  it.  A  man  has  made  a 
squatting  settlement  on  it ;  this  man  neglects  keeping  ferry-boats,  per- 
haps because  there  is  not  travelling  enough  to  pay  the  expense.  Now  it 
would  be  of  some  consequence  to  you  and  of  much  consequence  to  me, 
that  there  should  be  a  ferry  kept  there,  for  I  have  sometimes  to  cross 
the  river  without  well  knowing  how  to  get  over.  I  wish,  therefore,  to  get 
this  strip  of  land  so  as  to  make  it  a  condition  with  the  person  living  on  it 
that  he  shall  keep  a  ferry,  so  that  my  settlers  and  myself  can  get  across 
the  river." 

1  See  Pomona  Hall 


170  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

per  was,  and  after  staring  a  moment  at  him  asked,  "  Are 
you  Mr.  Huidekoper  ?  " 

"  Yes,  sir,"  Mr.  Huidekoper  replied.  "  What  is  your 
business  with  me  ?  " 

"  Nothing,  sir,"  the  inquirer  promptly  responded. 
"  When  George  Washington  was  in  this  country  every- 
body came  to  look  at  him ;  I  wanted  to  look  at  you, 
sir.  Good-day,  sir."  And  he  left  as  abruptly  as  he 
had  come. 

Until  1819  Mr.  Huidekoper's  office  was  in  the  north 
wing  of  his  house.  In  that  year  a  separate  office  build- 
ing was  erected,  of  brick.  Here  Mr.  Huidekoper  was  to 
be  found  daily  at  his  accounts  or  letters,  the  more  im- 
portant of  which  he  copied  with  his  own  hand  into  the 
large  letter-books  which  contained  the  bulk  of  his  busi- 
ness correspondence.  On  the  shelves  were  the  books 
containing  his  accounts  as  agent  for  the  Holland  Land 
Company,  for  Griffith  and  Wallace,  for  J.  B.  Wallace, 
for  Day  and  Meredith,  for  Bakewell  and  Page,  for  Busti 
and  Vanderkemp,  for  Maurice  and  William  Wurts,  for 
the  Bank  of  North  America  in  Philadelphia,  for  John 
and  Samuel  Moss,  and  for  others. 

His  system  and  order  pervaded  everything,  from  the 
daily  ledgers  to  the  great  land  book  into  which  the  in- 
dividual accounts  of  the  farmers  were  transferred,  —  a 
huge  volume  two  feet  wide  and  six  inches  thick,  which 
preserves  to  this  day  its  record  of  the  results  of  their 
toil.  So  accustomed  did  the  country  people  become  to 
the  sight  of  Mr.  Huidekoper's  head  at  the  window  near 
which  his  desk  was  placed,  that  when  it  was  there  no 
longer  they  saw  a  fancied  semblance  of  it  in  the  slightly 
rippled  glass,  and  insisted  that  he  had  left  the  imprint 
of  his  face  upon  the  pane. 


THE  AMERICAN  171 

In  the  account  with  his  brother  Jan  more  than  mere 
florins  or  dollars  has  been  set  to  the  elder  brother's 
credit  in  the  entry :  "  For  the  advances  generously  made 
by  him  to  me,  when  I  had  nothing,  to  finish  my  educa- 
tion, to  remove  to  America,  and  while  there,  —  amount- 
ing, as  per  his  letter  of  25  June,  1805,  Florins  2855.11, 
$1130.22." 

Jan  Huidekoper,  foreseeing  the  lack  of  communica- 
tion with  commercial  centres,  had  at  an  early  day  asked 
rather  dubiously  how  the  people  of  that  part  of  the 
country  could  dispose  of  their  produce.  Mr.  Huidekoper 
acknowledged  the  handicap,  but  answered  hopefully  l 
that  Meadville's  distance  from  the  coast  would  in  itself 
prohibit  imports  and  compel  home  exchange.  Some  stric- 
tures which  were  passed  by  his  brother  concerning  the 
government  of  Pennsylvania  he  perfectly  agreed  with. 
Too  much,  he  said,  was  sacrificed  to  political  equality, 
and  the  constitution  of  Pennsylvania  had  "a  direct 
tendency  to  introduce  a  government  of  demagogues." 
"  Luckily,"  his  optimism  then  interposed,  coming  to  the 
rescue,  "  we  form  a  part  of  a  large  confederacy  in  which 
there  are  a  number  of  better  constituted  states,  and  the 
general  government  has  the  power  to  set  us  right  again 
if  we  should  go  too  far  astray."  His  "  most  lively  pre- 
dilection "  for  this  country  did  not  prevent  him  from 
criticising  its  conduct  of  international  affairs. 

I  do  not  admire  as  much  as  you  do  the  attitude  which 
our  rulers  have  assumed  with  respect  to  the  belligerent 
powers  [he  said2],  and  I  fear  that  private  predilection  for 
France  and  animosity  against  England  have  had  too  much 
influence  in  the  measures  that  have  been  adopted.  At 
the  opening  of  the  late  Congress  the  President  informed 

1  Letter  of  July  23,  1806.  s  Ibid. 


172  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

that  body  that  all  the  negotiations  for  the  adjustment 
of  our  differences  with  Spain  had  failed,  that  the  troops 
of  that  nation  had  violated  the  ancient  territory  of  the 
United  States,  and  that  such  aggressions  had  been  com- 
mitted as  could  only  be  repelled  by  force.  He  also  com- 
plained of  the  acts  of  violence  committed  by  the  English, 
but  with  these  the  effects  of  negotiation  had  not  been 
tried.  In  a  subsequent  secret  message  it  appears  that  the 
President  informed  Congress  that  the  cause  of  failure  of 
our  negotiations  with  Spain  was  that  France  would  not 
suffer  that  nation  to  terminate  the  mutual  dispute  by  an 
amicable  arrangement ;  and  France  wanted  money,  and 
that  with  money  everything  might  be  adjusted.  Under 
these  circumstances  our  legislators  have  passed  laws 
granting  two  millions  of  dollars  for  extra  expenses  and 
have  prohibited  the  importation  of  certain  articles  which 
we  draw  from  England.  This,  I  think,  is  not  fear ;  I 
formerly  hated  the  English  on  account  of  their  over- 
bearing conduct  and  the  universal  dominion  which  they 
wished  to  exercise  over  the  whole  world,  and  I  still  de- 
precate their  excesses  and  am  far  from  wishing  that  my 
country  should  tamely  submit  to  be  insulted,  but  at  the 
same  time  I  cannot  help  admiring  that  proud  inflexible 
spirit  with  which  the  English  contend  for  their  independ- 
ence, and  I  am  induced  to  think  that  if  partiality  in  a 
neutral  be  pardonable  it  must  be  when  that  partiality  is 
exercised  in  favor  of  a  people  contending  for  existence. 

Then  he  added,  in  a  truly  patriotic  spirit :  "  But  while 
I  blame  the  steps  taken  by  our  rulers,  I  feel  grateful  to 
Heaven  that  I  live  under  a  government  where  I  can  take 
such  a  liberty  without  incurring  any  risk,  where  the  laws 
protect  me,  and  where  I  cannot  be  called  upon  to  give 
an  account  of  my  opinions."  A  thorough  appreciation 
of  his  new  surroundings  breathes  through  this  letter, 
and  was  enhanced  by  the  thought  of  his  brother's  situa- 
tion in  Holland. 


JAN   HUIDEKOPEK 


THE  AMERICAN  173 

The  fate  of  your  country  is  now  decided  [he  mourn- 
fully said  to  Jan  Huidekoper].  You  have  long  ceased  to 
exist  as  an  independent  nation,  and  you  will  do  well  to 
bring  up  your  children  as  citizens  of  the  world.  They 
may  feel  a  fond  partiality  for  their  native  land,  but  a 
country  I  fear  they  will  never  find  there.  Here  the  case 
is  different.  When  I  read  the  fate  of  Holland,  of  Swit- 
zerland, and  of  other  European  states,  I  feel  proud  that 
I  still  have  a  country  independent  from  all  foreign 
powers,  and  which  on  account  of  its  situation  can  brave 
the  most  powerful  whenever  it  sees  fit  to  call  forth  the 
energy  of  the  nation.  I  believe  that  men  take  a  more 
lively  interest  in  their  country  in  proportion  as  they  are 
more  scantily  scattered  over  its  surface.  Every  man  be- 
comes then  a  more  considerable  portion  in  the  whole 
district  which  he  inhabits,  his  influence  becomes  greater, 
and  this  increases  his  interest. 

Both  brothers,  in  their  letters,  dwelt  upon  the  pos- 
sibility of  being  united  again  in  America.  Especially 
when  the  domination  of  Napoleon  made  life  in  Hol- 
land almost  unendurable  did  Jan  Huidekoper  look  to- 
ward his  transatlantic  possessions  as  a  probable  refuge. 
"  I  rejoice  with  you,"  he  said,  in  a  letter  of  1806, 
"  that  your  parts  are  far  distant  from  our  scenes  of 
disorder.  .  .  .  What  is  to  happen  to  this  little  country 
is  a  riddle  to  the  majority  of  its  inhabitants.  The  high 
powers  in  this  country  are  very  busy,  and  affairs  of  the 
highest  importance  appear  to  be  under  consideration, 
but  they  remain  hidden  behind  a  veil  of  mystery." 

In  the  dark  times  of  1811  he  wrote  (September  29) : 

An  important  reason  does  not  permit  me  to  speak 
of  public  affairs ;  in  this  country  they  have  taken  a 
course  which  you  fortunate  people  can  form  no  con- 
ception of,  and  God  alone  knows  what  the  end  will  be. 
We  are  all  going  through  this  storm  under  reefed  sail, 


174  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

but  all  people  are  not  equally  distant  from  the  shoals, 
and  the  best  possible  seamanship  cannot  prevent  some 
from  running  aground.  With  the  aid  of  God,  I  hope 
to  be  able  to  keep  in  the  open  sea,  until  favorable  or 
otherwise  circumstances  may  enable  me  to  steer  for 
my  destination,  the  furthering  of  the  interests  of  my 
children,  which,  as  it  appears  to  me,  require  a  change 
of  location. 

To  your  friendly  wish  that  you  might  see  me  and 
mine  there  with  you  in  your  place  [said  he,  in  a  letter 
of  July  12, 1812],  I  can  only  say  that  I  desire  nothing 
more  than  to  see  it  some  time  fulfilled ;  but  as  long  as 
my  mother-in-law  lives  it  can  scarcely  be  fulfilled.  In 
any  case,  I  have  resolved  to  send  my  eldest  sons  over. 
The  first,  namely  Anne  Willem,  is  a  student,  and  Pieter 
is  learning  shipbuilding  at  the  state  wharf,  and  both 
have  made  more  than  ordinary  progress  in  mathematics. 
But  what  may  much  surprise  you  is  that  I  am  able  to 
write  you  that  I  am  married  again ;  my  mother-in-law 
was  too  old  for  the  cares  of  the  large  household,  and 
we  need  a  good  housekeeper,  and,  thank  God,  I  have 
been  very  fortunate.  My  wife  is  of  a  very  capable 
family,  has  a  most  excellent  disposition,  and  is  gen- 
erally respected  and  admired.  This  occurrence  will  not, 
however,  prevent  my  visiting  your  country,  which,  how- 
ever, under  the  present  circumstances  would  be  difficult 
to  accomplish.  You  know  that  a  cow  is  not  permitted 
to  leave  the  stall  or  pasture  of  her  master  —  she  is  his 
property  —  and  just  so  are  we  the  property  of  the  gov- 
ernment ;  our  daughters  must  stay  to  produce  children 
in  due  time,  our  sons  must  serve  in  the  army ;  the 
military  class  is  very  numerous ;  add  to  this  the  tre- 
mendous number  of  custom  house  employes,  the  em- 
ployes in  the  Droits  Reunis,  the  tobacco  regie,  the 
police,  and  further  mob  of  officials,  all  of  whom  must 
oe  fed  by  the  industry  and  labor  of  the  independent 
citizens,  so  that  these  have  also  their  work,  they  are 


MEDAL  GIVEN  TO  PIETER  HUIDEKOPER,  BURGOMASTER  OF   AMSTERDAS 


THE  AMERICAN  175 

from  that  point  of  view  also  useful,  and  cannot  be  dis- 
pensed with.  How  extremely  happy  it  makes  me  when 
I  think  that  I  advised  you  to  go  to  America ;  how 
pleasant  is  your  situation  compared  with  that  which 
has  overtaken  so  many  thousand  quiet  and  peaceful  citi- 
zens in  this  and  other  countries!  It  looks  very  dark, 
the  future  is  portentous  of  great  occurrences,  but  the 
course  of  affairs  is  very  difficult  to  guess. 

With  the  removal  of  the  Napoleonic  power  the  cau- 
tion of  all  the  preceding  letters  is  thrown  to  the  winds. 

Thank  God  [so  Jan  Huidekoper  breaks  out1  in  the 
relief  of  this  reaction],  that  I  can  again  write  you  as  my 
heart  dictates  to  my  pen,  and  still  more  that  the  land  of 
our  birth  is  finally  released  from  a  yoke  which  dishon- 
ored humanity,  and  of  which  one  can  form  no  conception 
unless  he  has  himself  had  the  misfortune  to  suffer  under 
it.  If  I  were  to  undertake  to  go  into  particulars  regard- 
ing that  horrible  collection  of  laws  and  institutions ;  if 
I  were  to  describe  to  you  the  immoral  goal  of  a  French 
government,  I  should  haye  to  give  far  more  time  to 
it  than  the  present  opportunity  allows  me.  Under  it  a 
man  ceases  to  be  a  man  —  an  individual  is  to  the  gov- 
ernment like  a  leaf  or  twig  to  the  gardener  with  his 
knife  pruning  a  tree,  and  who  takes  off  branches  as  he 
may  think  best.  It  was  entirely  aware  that  it  existed 
only  to  the  injury  of  society ;  it  knew  therefore  that 
society  was  its  enemy,  it  took  therefore  all  the  pre- 
cautions which  one  must  take  against  that  which  has 
an  interest  in  doing  us  an  injury.  All  employes  of  the 
government  must  therefore  inevitably  look  on  the  in- 
dividuals of  society  as  enemies,  —  the  more  they  were 
hated  by  these  the  more  they  won  the  confidence  of 
the  respective  ministries  under  which  they  stood,  while 
they  were  certain  to  lose  their  positions  as  soon  as  they 
were  found  to  be  in  favor  with  the  community. 

1  Letter  of  February  1, 1814. 


176  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

The  interruption  of  correspondence  resulting  from  the 
unsettled  state  of  Holland  from  1812  to  1814  had  caused 
a  long  interval  of  silence  to  fall  between  the  brothers. 
It  was  broken  by  the  letter  last  quoted,  which  contained, 
also,  the  intelligence  of  their  mother's  death. 

I  have  to  tell  you  that  after  quite  a  long  illness  our 
dear  mother  has  passed  away ;  this  last  occurred  on  the 
24th  of  May  last  year.  She  has  for  several  years  been 
able  to  live  a  life  free  from  much  care,  and  has  been 
happy  in  that  respect ;  this  must  naturally  mitigate 
your  grief  to  some  extent,  as  also  the  consideration  that 
her  years  were  many,  and  that  by  reason  of  defective 
health  she  could  enjoy  but  few  pleasures  in  this  life. 
Our  cousin  Cornelis  Steenbergen  has  been  named  by  her 
as  executor,  and  according  to  the  last  advices  received 
from  my  sister  in  this  matter  there  will  remain  a  couple 
of  thousand  guldens,  which  I  will  have  sent  here  in  order 
to  credit  your  account ;  in  the  mean  time  I  await  your 
instructions  regarding  the  same. 

Money  invested  by  the  Amsterdam  brother  in  land  in 
this  country,  and  increased  and  reinvested  by  Mr.  Huide- 
koper,  had  yielded  a  very  satisfactory  return.  Almost 
every  letter  from  Holland  expressed  appreciation  of  the 
care  given  by  the  younger  brother  to  the  affairs  of  the 
elder,  and  in  1817  the  plan  of  sending  to  America  the 
third  son  of  Jan  Huidekoper  was  broached.  "  Among 
all  the  many  favors  for  which  I  am  under  obligation  to 
you,"  said  the  father,  in  a  letter  of  that  year  (February 
21,  1817),  "  I  must  reckon  also  your  willingness  to 
receive  my  son  and  to  point  out  to  him  the  way  to 
establish  himself  in  your  country.  His  name  is  Jan,  and 
he  seems  already  to  think  well  of  this  emigration.  He 
is  studying  French  and  English,  and  receives  also  les- 
sons in  mathematics.  That  you  do  not  expect  to  make 


SAAPKE   HUIDEKOPER 


THE  AMERICAN  177 

a  farmer  of  him  is  quite  in  accordance  with  my  view ; 
on  the  contrary  I  hope  that  he  will  be  fitted  for  a  higher 
station,  and  I  have  a  particularly  favorable  view  of  his 
probable  success  if  he  may  have  the  good  fortune  to 
work  for  a  time  in  your  office,  in  order  that  he  may  thus 
fit  himself  for  the  business  of  land  speculation,  which  will 
certainly  continue  to  be  capable  of  extension,  contrary 
to  the  general  run  of  business,  in  which  here  and  every- 
where else  there  is  too  much  competition,  and  which  has 
thereby  become  extremely  risky." 

Jan,  or  John,  did  eventually  come  over,  and  spent 
four  years  under  his  uncle's  care,  but  gladly  returned 
to  his  native  country  when  his  brother  Albert  arrived,  in 
1826.  Albert  was  for  several  years  in  the  land  office; 
then  he,  too,  went  back  to  Holland.1  Two  of  Mr.  Huide- 
koper's  sons  afterward  visited  their  relatives  in  Holland, 
Frederic  in  1839,  Alfred  in  1851.  The  latter's  descrip- 
tion of  his  cousins'  home,  with  its  "  ponds  filled  with 
white  lilies  and  golden  fish,  green  level  lawns,  long 
avenues  through  beechen  groves,  trimmed  into  perfect 
Gothic  archways,  and  winding  walks  fringed  and  skirted 
with  trees  and  shrubs,"  was  most  enthusiastic.  "  No- 
thing," he  testified,  also,  "  can  be  more  charming  than 
the  sweet  manner  of  the  Hollandaises  in  their  families." 

After  the  establishment  of  the  kingdom  of  the  Neth- 
erlands Jan  Huidekoper  became  one  of  the  privy  coun- 
cilors of  the  king.  Through  every  change  of  scene  or 
fortune  the  correspondence  begun  almost  in  boyhood 
continued  with  all  its  old  warmth  until  his  death,  in  1835. 

1  "  Uncle  John  .  .  .  wished  all  his  children  to  come  here  and  settle. 
.  .  .  Another  son,  Pieter,  told  his  father  that  he  would  adopt  any  industry 
desired  by  him,  but  that  his  home  must  be  in  Holland.  There  was  another 
son,  Anne  Willem,  who  became  judge  of  the  city  court  in  Amsterdam 
while  I  was  there."  —  Manuscript  Autobiography  of  Frederic  Huidekoper. 


178  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

Mr.  Huidekoper's  daughter  wrote  then  (April  17, 1835) 
of  the  blow  which  had  fallen  upon  her  father  in  parting 
from  the  one  who  was  truly  to  him,  as  he  was  usually 
addressed  in  the  letters,  "  Best  friend  and  brother." 
"  We  had  a  letter  from  Albert  in  which  he  mentioned 
that  his  father  died  on  the  29th  of  January  of  apoplexy. 
.  .  .  Forty  years  of  separation  had  not  estranged  the 
brothers  in  their  affection,  and  my  father  feels  his  loss 
deeply."  l 

To  resume  the  narrative  of  the  earlier  time,  —  when 
the  War  of  1812  was  declared,  Mr.  Huidekoper  felt  with 
almost  equal  strength  the  provocation  given  by  Eng- 
land and  our  own  total  lack  of  preparation  for  a  con- 
flict of  arms.  "  Every  injury  and  insult  was  offered  us 
which  a  haughty,  overbearing  nation  could  offer  to  a 
weak  and  enduring  one,"  was  his  comment  in  after 
years  in  a  letter  upon  the  war  written  to  James  Freeman 
Clarke.  "  England  knew  our  national  imbecility,  and  pre- 
suming on  that  knowledge  thought  she  could  play  the 
bully  with  impunity."  Madison  and  his  cabinet,  he  said, 
knew  the  difficulties  of  the  situation  and  wished  to  avoid 
war.  "  They  made  no  preparation  for  a  coming  contest, 

1  "  I  have  received  a  long  and  very  interesting  letter  from  my  nephew 
Peter  Huidekoper,"  says  a  letter  from  Mr.  Huidekoper  (October  28, 1848) 
to  Mrs.  Clarke,  "  in  answer  to  one  I  had  written  to  him,  urging  him  and 
the  rest  of  the  family  to  withdraw  themselves  from  the  revolutionary 
scenes  of  Europe,  and  to  emigrate  to  this  country.  He  gives  me  his  reasons 
for  not  adopting  this  course,  and  these  are  such  as  do  honor  to  his  head 
and  heart.  He  is  strongly  attached  to  the  land  of  his  birth,  and  is  be- 
sides sensible,  that  it  would  seriously  injure  the  condition  of  the  laboring 
classes  if  the  men  of  capital  and  enterprise  should  withdraw.  My  nephew 
is  Maire  of  Amsterdam,  that  is  chief  magistrate  of  the  city.  He  tells  me 
that  notwithstanding  considerable  public  improvements  which  have  been 
made,  the  public  burthens  have  been  diminished.  The  letter  evinces  a 
mind  strongly  imbued  with  religious  principles  and  devotion  to  the  welfare 
of  his  fellow  men." 


THE  AMERICAN  179 

either  by  an  augmentation  of  the  army  or  navy,  or  by 
a  repair  of  our  forts,  or  by  filling  our  arsenals."  It  had 
seemed  to  Mr.  Huidekoper  a  time  for  firmness  of  policy 
and  a  threatening  attitude  on  the  part  of  Congress  rather 
than  for  rushing  to  arms.  If  Madison,  he  maintained, 
had  recommended  to  Congress  immediate  preparation 
for  war,  and  had  delayed  the  declaration  until  such 
preparation  should  be  made,  then  war  might  have  been 
avoided  entirely.  England,  in  his  opinion,  "did  not  wish 
to  go  to  war ;  she  only  presumed  on  our  forbearance. 
The  moment  she  found  we  were  in  earnest  she  repealed 
her  Orders  in  Council,  one  of  the  most  objectionable  of 
her  aggressions."  * 

At  the  beginning  of  the  war,  Meadville,  as  a  point 
near  the  endangered  Lake  territory,  and  also  on  the  In- 
dian frontier,  was  thoroughly  aroused.  Like  Pittsburg, 
it  was  a  place  of  rendezvous  for  recruits  from  the  coun- 
ties west  of  the  Alleghanies ;  and  when  the  invasion 
of  Canada  was  projected,  a  brigade,  composed  partly  of 
drafted  men,  but  mainly  of  volunteer  companies,  under 
Tunnehill,  whom  they  elected  general,  assembled  at 
Meadville  in  an  encampment  on  Samuel  Lord's  farm, 
and  waited  there,  expecting  to  be  called  on  to  reinforce 
General  Smyth.  On  April  6,  1846,  Mr.  Huidekoper 
wrote  to  James  Freeman  Clarke  :  — 

I  have  seldom  seen  a  finer  collection  of  men,  but 
they  were  rendered  totally  useless  for  want  of  proper 
officers.  The  troops  elected  here  their  own  superior 
officers.  The  colonels,  with  one  exception,  were  totally 
inefficient,  and  the  general,  though,  I  believe,  physically 
brave,  was  morally  a  coward,  and  dared  not  either  to 
introduce  proper  discipline,  or  to  enforce  the  few  orders 

1  Letter  to  James  Freeman  Clarke,  April  6,  1846. 


180  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

he  issued.  Hence  that  which  might  have  been  a  fine, 
useful  body  of  troops  was  nothing  but  an  armed  mob. 
They  remained  lying  here  in  camp  for  a  couple  of 
months,  doing  nothing.  They  were  then  marched  to 
Buffalo,  where  they  were  left  in  the  same  state  of  inac- 
tion, until  sickness  broke  out  among  them,  when  some 
deserted,  and  the  rest  were  dismissed,  without  any  of 
them  having  seen  an  enemy.  Smyth  had  abundant 
means  of  invading  Canada  (the  object  for  which  he 
was  at  Buffalo),  but  I  believe  he  was  deficient  in  per- 
sonal courage.  He  was  a  mere  braggadocio.  He  kept 
constantly  proclaiming  that  he  would  cross  the  Niagara 
river  forthwith.  Two  or  more  times  the  troops  for 
the  invasion  were  actually  embarked,  but  were  counter- 
manded after  remaining  some  hours  in  the  boats.  Once 
he  appeared  to  have  brought  his  courage  to  the  right 
pitch.  The  troops  were  embarked  in  the  evening.  A 
party  of  sailors  were  sent  over  to  storm  the  English 
battery.  This  was  gallantly  accomplished,  though  with 
some  loss.  Instead  of  crossing  immediately,  Smyth  re- 
mained on  the  American  side  till  morning.  .  .  .  This 
gave  the  English  time  to  receive  reinforcements  from 
below.  The  few  men  who  had  crossed  were  overpowered, 
and  Smyth  disembarked  his  troops.  He  was  one  of  Uncle 
Sam's  hard  bargains.  .  .  . 

To  the  gross  error  of  not  securing  a  naval  superiority 
was  added  the  neglect  of  putting  our  military  posts  in 
a  proper  state  of  defense  and  of  furnishing  them  with 
1  ample  supplies.  I  was  told  that  the  works  of  all  these 
posts  were  in  a  state  of  dilapidation,  and  that  even  the 
gun-carriages  at  Detroit  were  unfit  for  service,  and 
had  to  be  repaired,  or  replaced  by  new  ones,  before 
the  guns  could  be  used.  On  this  point,  the  papers  of 
General  Hull  will  probably  give  you  more  correct  in- 
formation. 

But  a  far  more  guilty  piece  of  negligence  was  the 
omission  to  give  the  commanders  of  the  different  posts 
timely  notice  of  the  intended  declaration  of  war.  Instead 


THE  AMERICAN  181 

of  getting  the  information  of  the  declaration  of  war 
from  their  own  government,  they  learned  it  through  the 
enemy ;  and  the  consequence  was  that  Michilimackinac 
was  surprised  before  it  was  known  that  there  was  war ; 
that  a  part  of  the  baggage  of  Hull's  army  was  captured ; 
and  that  the  garrison  at  Chicago,  which  ought  either 
to  have  been  adequately  strengthened  or  withdrawn  in 
time,  was  massacred  by  the  Indians  immediately  on  leav- 
ing the  fort  to  fall  back  on  Detroit,  as  they  had  been 
directed  to  do.  The  loss  of  Mackinaw  and  Chicago 
removed  every  check  on  the  incursion  of  the  western 
Indians,  and  their  operations  soon  rendered  the  com- 
munication between  Detroit  and  the  settled  portions  of 
Ohio  impracticable,  and  thus  the  fate  of  that  post, 
and  of  Hull's  army,  became  unavoidable.  The  latter 
defeated  the  Indians  at  Maguaga  ;  they  might  perhaps 
have  beaten  the  English  under  General  Brock,  but  this 
could  only  postpone  their  fate,  not  avert  it.  Cut  off 
from  all  intercourse  with  those  points  from  which  their 
supplies  were  derived,  they  must  either  starve  or  sur- 
render, there  was  no  third  alternative. 

The  impracticability  of  General  Harrison's  penetrat- 
ing beyond  the  Maumee,  and  the  enormous  expense 
incurred  in  supplying  his  army  there,  that  he  might 
cover  that  section  of  country  against  the  enemies,  at 
length  convinced  the  Government  of  the  absolute  ne- 
cessity of  obtaining  the  mastery  of  Lake  Erie ;  and  in 
the  spring  of  1813  the  construction  of  a  fleet  was  com- 
menced at  the  port  of  Erie.  This  fleet  was  to  consist  of 
two  brigs,  carrying  twenty  guns  each,  three  gun-boats, 
and  an  advice-boat.  No  previous  preparation  had  been 
made  for  the  building  and  equipment  of  this  fleet.  On 
the  1st  of  April,  1813,  nearly  all  the  timber  used  for 
the  construction  of  this  fleet  was  still  standing  in  the 
forest.  This,  however,  was  on  the  spot,  but  all  the  other 
material  for  this  fleet,  such  as  cordage,  blocks,  anchors, 
guns,  ammunition,  &c.,  had  to  be  brought  from  a  dis- 
tance, most  of  it  from  Philadelphia.  To  form  some  idea 


182  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

of  the  trouble  and  expense  attending  the  transportation 
of  this  material,  you  must  recollect  that  at  the  time  the 
turnpike  from  Philadelphia  westward  extended  only  to 
Harrisburg ;  that  from  thence  to  Pittsburg,  a  distance 
of  200  miles,  the  road,  particularly  in  the  mountains, 
was  very  rough  ;  and  that  from  Pittsburg  to  Erie,  a 
distance  of  about  130  miles,  the  roads  being  common 
country  roads,  were  very  soon  so  cut  up  by  the  heavy 
hauling  on  them  as  to  become  nearly  impassable.  To 
give  some  idea  of  the  expense  of  transportation  I  would 
observe,  that  previous  to  the  war  of  1812,  and  after  the 
close  of  it  in  1815,  the  expense  of  transportation  from 
Philadelphia  to  Meadville  might  be  computed  at  12|c. 
per  pound.  If  we  now  add  to  this  the  37  miles  increased 
distance  from  Meadville  to  Erie,  and  make  due  allow- 
ance for  the  increased  expense  during  a  state  of  war, 
and  take  also  into  consideration  that  in  the  hauling 
for  the  public  there  were  no  return  freights,  I  think 
we  shall  not  be  far  wrong  in  estimating  the  expense  of 
transportation  from  Philadelphia  to  Erie  at  about  20c. 
per  pound. 

Perry,  when  he  came  in  the  spring  of  1813  to  Lake 
Erie,  and  was  confronted  with  the  necessity  of  building 
the  fleet  he  was  sent  to  command,  won  Mr.  Huideko- 
per's  unqualified  admiration.  To  his  son  Frederic  he 
said  in  a  letter  of  April  2,  1835  :  — 

I  have  known  Capt.  Perry  well.  I  have  day  after  day 
lodged  with  him  in  the  same  house,  and  gone  with  him 
on  board  the  vessels  he  was  fitting  out.  I  was  on  board 
of  these  vessels  again  a  few  days  after  the  action.  I  was 
intimate  with  all  the  officers  who  were  in  that  action, 
and  I  lodged  with  Capt.  Elliott  in  the  same  house  re- 
peatedly for  perhaps  a  week  at  a  time,  so  that  my  infor- 
mation was  acquired  from  the  best  sources. 

Capt.  Perry,  at  the  time  I  knew  him  on  Lake  Erie, 
was  a  man  of  about  twenty-eight  years  of  age,  frank, 


THE  AMERICAN  183 

friendly,  and  even  courteous  in  his  manners,  with  no- 
thing rough  or  austere  about  him,  and,  above  all,  he 
was  a  modest  man.  He  kept  strict  discipline,  and  some- 
times the  youngsters  who  served  under  him  complained 
that  he  kept  them  too  tight,  but  they  all,  to  a  man,  idol- 
ised him,  and  among  these  he  had  not  an  enemy.  The 
public  never  knew  the  worth  of  that  man.  They  have 
known  him  only  as  the  victor  of  the  English  fleet  on 
Lake  Erie,  and  yet  this  was  by  far  his  smallest  merit. 
Hundreds  might  have  fought  that  battle  as  well  as  he 
did,  and  at  all  events  hundreds  did  share  with  him  in 
the  honors  of  that  victory.  But  to  appreciate  his  char- 
acter, a  person  must  have  seen  him,  as  I  did,  fitting  out 
a  fleet  of  six  new  vessels  of  war,  between  the  months  of 
April  and  September,  at  some  hundreds  of  miles  from 
the  seacoast,  and  in  a  district  where,  except  the  green 
timber  growing  in  the  woods,  not  one  single  article  ne- 
cessary for  the  equipment  of  a  vessel  could  be  obtained 
that  was  not  subject  to  a  land  transportation  of  some 
120  to  400  miles  through  roads  nearly  impassable.  I 
have  seen  him,  when  neglected  and  almost  abandoned 
by  his  country,  with  less  than  a  hundred  sailors  under 
his  command,  and  half  of  these  on  the  sick  list,  toiling 
to  fit  out  his  fleet,  working  from  morning  till  evening, 
and  having  not  men  enough  to  row  at  night  a  single 
guard  boat,  while  the  enemy  were  cruising  off  the  har- 
bour, and  might  have  sent  any  night  their  boats  and 
burned  the  American  fleet.  I  have  seen  him,  with  his 
reputation  as  an  officer  thus  liable  to  be  blasted  forever 
at  any  moment,  without  the  power  of  averting  it,  and 
without  any  one  to  sympathise  with  him,  persevere  un- 
shrinkingly in  his  task,  and  evincing  a  courage  far 
greater  than  what  was  required  to  fight  the  battle  of 
the  10th  September. 

When  he  assumed  command,  Perry  consulted  Gen- 
eral Mead  as  to  the  defense  of  the  shore,  and  a  force  of 
one  thousand  was  called  together  at  Erie.  Here  their 


184  HARM  JAN   HUIDEKOPER 

time  was  occupied  in  patrolling  the  water-edge,  with  the 
variation,  in  July,  when  the  enemy's  vessels  appeared, 
of  marching  ostentatiously  hither  and  thither  to  give 
the  impression  that  a  large  army  was  assembled  to  repel 
attack.  At  this  time  Perry  urged  Mead  to  raise  more 
militia,  and  Mead  issued  a  call  that  brought  to  Erie  hun- 
dreds of  patriotic  citizens,  young  and  old. 

Mr.  Huidekoper  was  not  one  of  the  militia,  and  never 
enlisted,  but  he  did  write  to  Colonel  Mappa  for  a  gun 
and  for  a  book  on  military  tactics,  neither  of  which  he 
obtained.  He  was  frequently,  as  he  has  said,  at  Erie  in 
the  summer  of  1813,  for  a  week  at  a  time,  which  busi- 
ness alone  could  hardly  have  required.  It  may  well  have 
been  that  without  actually  joining  the  ranks  he  held 
himself  in  readiness  to  fight  if  the  need  should  come  for 
every  available  man  to  bear  arms.1  That  he  did  in  some 
way  "  offer  his  services  "  is  traditional  in  the  family. 

Mr.  Huidekoper's  sending  to  Oldenbarneveld  to  try 
to  procure  a  gun  was  perhaps  explained  by  the  condi- 
tion in  which  the  guns  sent  to  Meadville  were  discovered 
to  be.  In  the  letter,  previously  quoted,  to  James  Free- 
man Clarke,  he  said  :  — 

On  the  breaking  out  of  the  war,  it  became  necessary 
to  furnish  arms  to  the  militia  of  this  section  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. The  Governor  accordingly  sent  us  a  number  of 
boxes  filled  with  muskets  and  their  usual  accompani- 
ments from  the  State  Arsenal.  I  was  present  at  the  un- 
packing of  these  guns,  and  never,  I  believe,  in  modern 

1  Such  a  need  was  anticipated  by  the  "exempts,"  or  men  of  advancing 
years,  of  Oldenbarneveld,  and  the  company  of  the  Silver  Greys  of  Tren- 
ton was  formed.  Mappa  was  made  its  captain  and  drilled  the  company 
rigidly,  —  "  put  them  through  the  manual,"  as  he  wrote  Mr.  Huidekoper, 
"marched  and  wheeled  with  the  boys  —  left  —  right,"  and  tired  him- 
self "  finely  "  (Letter  of  A.  G.  Mappa  to  H.  J.  H.,  November  12,  1812.) 


THE  AMERICAN  186 

days,  has  such  a  collection  been  seen.  In  some,  the 
touch-hole  was  so  covered  by  the  lock  as  to  have  no 
communication  with  the  pan.  In  others,  the  touch-hole 
was  half  an  inch  above  the  pan  when  shut,  and  some 
had  no  touch-hole  at  all.  Many  of  the  barrels  were  splin- 
tered, or  had  other  internal  defects.  In  one  word,  the 
whole  were  useless  until  armorers  were  set  at  work 
on  them,  when  a  portion  of  them  were  rendered  fit  for 
service. 

Sometimes  [he  said  *],  when  the  different  detachments 
of  troops  arrived  at  Erie,  they  had  no  ammunition,  and 
on  one  occasion  there  were  no  flints.  An  aide-de-camp 
of  the  Major-General  was  sent  off  on  horseback  to  Har- 
risburg  to  communicate  this  want  to  the  Governor.  The 
Governor  went  round  among  the  stores  in  the  town, 
and  purchased  what  flints  were  to  be  had,  putting  them 
in  his  pocket  as  he  purchased  them.  The  aide-de-camp 
brought  them  in  his  saddle-bags  to  Erie.  A  supply 
might  in  the  same  manner  have  been  obtained  nearer 
home  in  one  third  of  the  time  and  at  half  the  expense. 
...  To  form  some  idea  of  Perry's  situation  you  must 
know  that,  up  to  the  end  of  August,  he  had  under  him 
but  a  single  commissioned  officer  (the  present  Capt. 
Turner),  then  a  young  man  without  experience,  and  who 
had  but  recently  been  commissioned.  The  rest  of  Perry's 
officers  were  young  midshipmen.  Just  previous  to  the 
action,  Capt.  Elliott  (then  a  master-commandant)  joined 
the  fleet,  and  this  made  three  commissioned  officers  to  a 
fleet  of  six  vessels  of  war. 

In  point  of  men,  Capt.  Perry's  means  were  still  more 
deficient.  The  marines  for  the  fleet,  furnished  by  the 
Government  from  the  depot  at  Washington,  consisted 
of  a  Capt.  or  Lieutenant  (Brooks,  killed  in  the  action), 
and  of  a  sergeant,  a  drummer,  and  a  fifer.  Two  or  three 
men  were  recruited  on  the  route  to  Erie,  and  the  rest  of 
the  marines  had  to  be  recruited  at  Erie.  As  to  sailors, 

i  In  the  same  letter. 


186  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

Perry's  means  were  also  greatly  deficient.  By  one  of 
those  arrangements  so  common  during  the  war  in  ques- 
tion, the  expediency  of  which  it  is  difficult  to  reconcile 
with  common  sense,  Perry  was  put  under  the  orders  of 
Chauncey,  the  commander  of  the  naval  force  on  Lake 
Ontario,  and  all  the  supplies  of  men,  intended  for  Lake 
Erie,  wherever  enlisted,  were  in  the  first  instance  sent 
to  Sackett's  Harbour.  The  consequences  were  such  as 
might  have  been  expected.  So  long  as  men  could  be 
used  on  Lake  Ontario,  to  fill  up  the  crews  of  the  vessels 
there  to  their  full  complement,  none  were  sent  to  Perry, 
and  when  any  were  sent,  they  were  the  refuse  of  the 
drafts.  Captain  Elliott  stated  subsequently,  in  my  pre- 
sence, that,  serving  at  that  time  on  Lake  Ontario,  he  had 
himself  had  the  picking  of  the  men  to  be  sent  to  Lake 
Erie,  and  that  none  were  sent  but  the  worst ;  and  that 
if  he  could  then  have  foreseen  that  he  himself  should 
be  sent  to  Lake  Erie,  his  selections  would  have  been 
very  different.  Perry,  in  a  letter  to  the  Secretary  of  the 
Navy,  expressed  some  surprise  that  so  large  a  portion  of 
the  prime  New  England  sailors,  enlisted  in  the  cities, 
should  be  turned  into  negroes  and  mulattoes  before  they 
reached  him ;  but  acknowledged  himself  grateful  for 
getting  even  such.  And  well  he  might  be  so,  consider- 
ing how  alarmingly  deficient  he  was  in  men.  After  the 
six  vessels,  built  at  Erie,  were  all  launched,  and  while  he 
was  fitting  them  out,  he  had  but  about  a  hundred  men, 
of  which,  from  sundry  causes,  a  large  number  were  on 
the  sick  list.  As  ah1  fit  for  duty  had  to  work  hard  the 
whole  day  in  fitting  out  the  fleet,  there  were  no  spare 
men  to  row  even  a  single  guard  boat,  to  give  notice  of 
any  night  attack  which  might  be  made  on  the  fleet.  An 
English  fleet  of  five  vessels  of  war  was  at  that  time 
cruising  off  the  harbor,  in  full  view.  That  fleet  might, 
at  any  time,  have  sent  its  boats,  during  a  dark  night, 
and  the  destruction  of  the  whole  American  fleet  was 
almost  inevitable,  for  Perry's  force  was  totally  inade- 
quate to  its  defense,  and  the  regiment  of  Midland  Penn- 


THE  AMERICAN  187 

sylvania  Militia,  stationed  at  Erie  expressly  for  the  de- 
fense of  the  fleet,  refused  to  keep  guard  at  night  on 
board.  "  I  told  the  boys  to  go,  Captain,"  said  the  worth- 
less colonel  of  this  regiment,  in  excusing  himself  for 
not  sending  a  guard  on  board,  "  I  told  the  boys  to  go, 
but  the  boys  won't  go."  .  .  . 

Under  these  trying  circumstances  Perry  constantly 
bore  up  with  a  constancy  and  fortitude  which  excited 
my  admiration  more  than  did  his  subsequent  victory. 
I  never  knew  his  fortitude  to  forsake  him  except  once, 
and  then  his  despondency  was  only  momentary.  He 
had  been  promised  that,  by  a  certain  day,  Chauncey 
would  be  at  the  head  of  Lake  Ontario,  and  land  there 
the  men  necessary  to  man  Perry's  fleet.  Perry  had  sent 
an  officer  to  receive  this  detachment,  and  to  conduct  it 
to  Erie.  He  was  elated  with  the  prospect  of  having  his 
wants  at  length  supplied ;  and  it  was  when  his  officer 
returned,  and  reported  that  Chauncey  had  been  at  the 
head  of  the  Lake  at  the  appointed  time,  had  received  his 
letter,  and  had  sailed  again  down  Lake  Ontario  without 
landing  a  man,  or  sending  any  answer,  that  Perry's  for- 
titude for  a  moment  appeared  to  give  way,  and  that  he 
complained  bitterly  to  me  of  the  state  of  abandonment 
in  which  his  country  left  him. 

When,  ultimately,  the  vessels  were  ready  to  sail, 
Perry  called  on  the  militia  for  volunteers,  to  serve  on 
board,  while  the  vessels  were  getting  over  the  bar  at 
the  mouth  of  the  harbor,  it  being  expected  that  he 
would  be  attacked  during  the  slow  process  of  getting 
the  vessels  over.  After  the  vessels  had  been  got  over, 
he  again  called  for  volunteers  to  make  a  short  cruise 
with  him  to  Long  Point  and  the  lower  part  of  the  Lake, 
in  quest  of  the  enemy.  How  many  volunteers  he  ob- 
tained I  do  not  now  recollect,  but  among  them  was  a 
rifle  company,  consisting  of  72  men  from  this  neighbor- 
hood. It  was  while  Perry  was  absent  on  this  cruise, 
that  Elliott  arrived  at  Erie  with  a  reinforcement  of  100 
seamen.  Thus  reinforced,  Perry  sailed  up  the  lake  to 


188  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

Sandusky  Bay.  Here  he  got  an  additional  supply  of 
about  60  sailors,  from  some  of  the  regular  regiments 

*  O  O 

in  Harrison's  army,  and  a  considerable  number  of  vol- 
unteers to  serve  as  marines.  Notwithstanding  all  these 
reinforcements,  Perry  had  on  the  day  of  the  action,  on 
his  own  vessel,  a  crew  of  only  120  men,  of  whom  about 
20  were  on  the  sick  list. 

Of  the  dispute  between  Perry  and  Elliott  Mr.  Huide- 
koper  thus  expressed  his  opinion.1 

I  think  I  can  point  out  to  you  the  cause  of  that  quar- 
rel. Com.  Chauncey  commanded  on  Lake  Ontario,  and 
Lake  Erie,  on  which  we  had  not  a  single  vessel  of  war, 
was  included  in  his  command.  In  1812  he  sent  Elliott  to 
Buffalo  with  some  sailors.  On  the  very  day  the  sailors 
arrived,  the  two  vessels,  the  Detroit  and  Caledonia,  came 
down  the  lake  from  Detroit  and  anchored  under  Fort 
Erie.  That  same  night  these  vessels  were  boarded  and  car- 
ried by  surprise  after  a  slight  resistance.  The  Caledonia 
was  run  in  safety  in  the  Niagara  River  behind  an  island. 
The  Detroit  ran  on  a  rock  at  the  head  of  the  island  and 
was  lost.  The  Caledonia  was  afterwards  transformed  into 
a  vessel  of  war,  and  was  in  the  action  of  the  10th  of  Sep- 
tember, under  the  command  of  my  friend  Capt.  Turner, 
whom  you  saw  at  Newport.  After  this  dash  Capt.  Elliott 
considered  himself  entitled  to  the  command  of  the  fleet  to 
be  built  on  Lake  Erie.  Government  thought  differently 
and  gave  that  command  to  Capt.  Perry,  and  here,  if  I  mis- 
take not,  we  must  look  for  the  true  cause  of  the  quarrel 
between  these  two  officers.  Elliott  served  on  Lake  On- 
tario till  the  fleet  on  Lake  Erie  was  completed.  He  was 
then  sent  to  Lake  Erie,  and  was  second  in  command, 
having  the  Niagara,  a  twenty  gun  brig  exactly  of  the 
same  size  with  Perry's  vessel  the  Lawrence.  On  the  day  of 
the  action  the  Lawrence  was  the  leading  vessel,  next  the 
Niagara,  and  then  the  gunboats,  each  in  their  order.  In 

1  Letter  to  Frederic  Huidekoper,  April  2,  1835. 


THE  AMERICAN  189 

approaching  the  British  line  at  an  angle  of  perhaps  45°, 
...  it  is  evident  that  the  leading  vessel  must  be  more 
exposed  than  the  rest,  and  this  particularly  so  as  the  wind 
was  very  light,  and  the  vessels  moved  slowly.  Elliott  kept 
back,  and  this  drew  the  fire  of  the  whole  British  fleet 
on  the  Lawrence,  which  in  consequence  was  soon  dread- 
fully cut  up,  and  became  a  complete  wreck.  There  has 
been  much  disputing  and  some  duelling  to  settle  how 
near  the  Niagara  was  to  the  Lawrence.  A.  fact  will  settle 
this  better  and  prove  that  she  kept  at  a  safe  distance. 
When  Perry  left  the  Lawrence  to  go  on  the  Niagara, 
the  former  vessel  had  upwards  of  one  hundred  killed 
and  wounded,  the  latter  when  Perry  got  on  board  .  .  . 
had  either  no  wounded,  or  only  two,  for  on  this  subject 
there  was  a  difference  of  opinion.  As  to  the  expres- 
sions attributed  to  Perry  on  getting  on  board  of  the 
Niagara,  they  rest  on  Capt.  Elliott's  assertion,  and  were 
not  believed  at  the  time.  Perry  sent  Elliott  away  osten- 
sibly to  bring  up  the  gunboats,  then  dashed  with  the 
Niagara  into  the  midst  of  the  enemy's  line,  was  nobly 
seconded  by  Turner,  &c.,  in  their  gunboats,  and  the 
whole  English  fleet  was  compelled  to  strike. 

You  will  perhaps  ask,  what  was  the  cause  of  Capt. 
Elliott's  keeping  back  ?  It  was  generally  supposed  that 
it  was  not  from  cowardice,  but  from  jealousy.  Elliott 
was  next  in  command.  If  Perry  fell  and  his  vessel  was 
disabled,  it  would  not  be  without  causing  some  damage 
to  the  English  fleet.  Elliott  would  then  become  the 
commander  of  the  fleet,  and  with  his  own  vessel  and  the 
gunboats  perfectly  uninjured,  he  might  retrieve  the  day, 
and  acquire  all  the  glory.  After  the  action,  Perry,  in  his 
report  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  spoke  respectfully 
of  Elliott.  The  latter,  however,  applied  to  have  the  ex- 
pressions relating  to  him  rendered  somewhat  stronger. 
This  was  disliked  by  Capt.  Perry,  and  this  was  the  be- 
ginning of  the  quarrel  between  them.  Elliott  caused  a 
statement  of  the  action  to  be  made  by  one  or  two  per- 
sons which  was  contradicted  by  the  officers  of  the  Law- 


190  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

rence  and  of  the  gunboats,  and  afterward,  by  one  of  the 
persons  who  made  it.  Capt.  Elliott  at  the  time  I  am  speak- 
ing of  was  a  great  bragger  and  disagreeable  in  his  con- 
versation, especially  as  it  related  to  the  action  on  Lake 
Erie,  of  which  he  spoke  as  of  a  squabble  between  some 
drunken  sailors.  He  was  then  and  is  now  disliked  by 
the  officers  who  served  under  him.1 

Of  Hull  Mr.  Huidekoper  said,  in  a  letter  (Feb.  19, 
1844)  to  Mrs.  Clarke :  "  Gen.  Hull  was  made  the  scape- 
goat to  bear  the  sins  of  the  administration  and  to  hide 
the  guilty  improvidence  and  blunders  of  the  men  in 
power  from  the  knowledge  of  the  people." 

The  war  of  1812  did  much  toward  turning  attention 
in  the  direction  of  the  lake  country  of  New  York  and 
western  Pennsylvania,  and  when  the  righting  was  over 
emigration  set  in  with  renewed  activity.  Land  sales  in- 
creased, and  improvements  of  all  kinds  advanced  rapidly. 
The  Beaver  and  Erie  Canal,  with  its  French  Creek  feeder, 
was  an  enterprise  in  which  Mr.  Huidekoper  felt  a  keen 
interest.  He  had  appreciated  the  gain  to  the  county  of 
the  building  of  the  turnpikes,  and  had  welcomed  in  1820 
the  arrival  over  the  Bellefonte  and  Erie  route  of  the  first 

1  Apropos  of  Elliott's  courage,  a  letter  from  Anna  Huidekoper  to  her 
brother  Frederic  contains  the  following  anecdote  :  "George  Hurst  told 
me  that  he  made  one  cruise  with  Elliott  and  would  acquit  him  of  the 
charge  of  cowardice.  He  had  seen  him  display  a  good  deal  of  courage  iu 
the  prospect  of  a  hazardous  engagement,  indeed  one  that  must  have  proved 
fatal  to  them.  It  was  in  passing  a  blockade  at  the  mouth  of  the  La  Plata. 
Elliott  wished  to  go  up  the  river,  but  was  refused  permission  to  pass,  as  it 
was  contrary  to  the  rules  of  war  to  permit  any  vessel  to  break  a  blockade. 
The  Rio  Janeiro  captain  had  15  minutes  to  think  of  it ;  13  had  elapsed 
and  the  deck  of  our  vessel  was  cleared  for  action.  Determined  to  die  in 
the  attempt,  Elliott  was  all  ready,  when  the  Rio  Janeiran  wished  them  'a 
pleasant  voyage  to  Buenos  Ayres.'  However,  he  seemed  to  have  a  great 
dislike  to  Elliott  personally,  and  so  I  have  heard  has  every  officer  in  the 
navy.  They  would  rather  be  sent  to  the  North  Pole  without  Elliott  than 
to  the  Mediterranean  with  him." 


THE  AMERICAN  191 

stage  that  reached  Meadville.1  The  canal,  however,  ap- 
pealed to  him  especially ;  indeed,  its  value  as  establish- 
ing communication  with  the  Great  Lakes  and  the  rivers 
before  the  days  of  railroads  could  hardly  be  overesti- 
mated. Canal  construction  was  active  in  the  early  part 
of  the  century,  and  in  1826  a  society  called  The  Aux- 
iliary Internal  Improvement  Society  of  Crawford  County 
was  organized  to  "  encourage  and  assist  in  the  building  of 
roads  and  canals."  Mr.  Huidekoper  was  on  its  executive 
committee.  The  committee  was  instrumental  in  ensuring 
the  construction  of  an  extension  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Canal  from  Pittsburg  to  Lake  Erie.  It  was  this  exten- 
sion which  was  known  as  the  Beaver  and  Erie  Canal. 

The  Beaver  and  Erie  Canal,  crossing  Crawford  County 
from  north  to  south,  encountered  a  ridge  which  would 
have  made  the  supplying  of  water  difficult  had  it  not 
been  that  on  the  ridge  was  Conneaut  Lake,  from  which, 
by  means  of  a  feeder  canal,  a  flow  could  be  obtained. 
The  feeder  tapped  French  Creek  at  Bemus'  Mills,  car- 
ried the  water  down  beside  the  creek  through  Meadville, 
crossed  the  creek  in  a  stone  aqueduct  near  the  mouth 
of  Conneaut  Outlet,2  followed  Conneaut  Outlet  to  Con- 

1  History  of  Crawford  County,  p.  271. 

2  Mr.  Huidekoper,  in  endeavoring  to  obtain  for  the  canal  the  most  de- 
sirable route,  wrote,  among  other  letters,  a  communication  to  the  Board  of 
Canal  Commissioners  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  in  which  he  says,  in 
speaking  of  the  feeder  (the  date  is  omitted  from  the  copy  or  draft  of  his 
letter) :  "  At  the  moment  when  you  are  about  to  decide  on  the  routes  by 
which  the  internal  improvements  are  to  be  made  through  this  section  of 
Pennsylvania,  we  hope  that  you  will  not  deem  us  intrusive  if  we  take  the 
liberty  of  addressing  you  on  a  subject  which  must  have  so  powerful  and 
lasting  an  influence  on  the  prosperity  of  the  country  we  inhabit.  ...  It 
is  known  at  least  to  some  of  the  members  of  your  Board  that  from  an 
early  date  a  party  has  existed  here  whose  constant  efforts  have  been  to 
control  the  location  of  the  canal  independent  of  and  in  direct  opposition 
to  the  opinions  expressed  by  the  engineers  both  of  this  State  and  of  the 
United  States.    It  was  through  the  efforts  and  misrepresentations  of  this 


192  HAKM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

neaut  Lake,  where  it  emptied  its  French  Creek  supply, 
and  then,  with  a  new  supply  from  the  lake,  which  acted 
as  a  reservoir,  ran  on  until  it  united  with  the  main  canal 
near  the  boundary  line  between  Sadsbury  and  Summit 
townships. 

Much  ceremony  and  great  rejoicing  accompanied  the 
breaking  of  ground  at  Meadville  for  the  feeder,  on  the 
27th  of  August,  1827.  Two  years  later,  on  the  com- 
pletion of  the  first  letting  of  the  feeder,  another  cele- 
bration was  held.  It  was  for  this  celebration  that  the 
William  Lehman  was  built,  a  canal  boat  which  recalled 
Perry's  methods  in  that  it  was  launched  two  days  after 
the  timber  used  in  its  construction  had  been  cut  from 
the  forest. 

In  time,  of  course,  the  railroad  brought  the  prosperity 
of  the  canal  to  an  end,  but  throughout  Mr.  Huidekoper's 
life  the  water-way  was  the  main  route  for  emigrants, 
coal,  iron,  and  all  merchandise,  and  amply  fulfilled  the 
expectations  of  its  promoters. 

Mr.  Huidekoper's  faith  in  the  profitableness  of  judi- 
cious investment  in  land  was  very  great.  He  had  as 
early  as  1804  purchased  from  the  Holland  Land  Com- 
pany 21,827  acres  of  unimproved  wilderness.  In  1823 
he  bought  of  Busti  and  Vanderkemp  2938  acres,  and 
in  1836  he  obtained,  as  his  autobiography  has  said,  all 
the  remaining  possessions  of  the  Holland  Land  Com- 
pany in  Pennsylvania,  —  about  58,300  acres  more.  The 

party  that  the  feeder  was  located,  at  its  upper  end,  on  the  east  instead 
of  on  the  west  side  of  French  Creek,  an  error  which  will  cost  the  State 
probably  fifty  thousand  dollars,  or  more,  on  account  of  the  aqueduct  em- 
bankment, damages  for  going  through  private  property,  etc.,  which  this 
location  draws  after  it,  and  all  this  without  any  .  .  .  advantage  to  the 
public."  The  letter,  which  need  not  be  quoted  further,  goes  on  to  speak 
at  length  of  the  merits  and  demerits  of  the  possible  routes,  and  recom- 
mends the  one  ultimately  followed. 


THE  AMERICAN  193 

obligation  incurred  by  the  last  purchase,  although  it  did 
not  at  any  time  weigh  upon  him  with  pressing  anxiety, 
gave  him  a  large  financial  burden  to  carry,  and  it  was 
with  immense  relief  that  in  1840  he  made  his  final  pay- 
ment and  could  consider  that  account  successfully  closed. 

It  is  seldom  that  a  man  devoting  his  life  mainly  to 
the  pursuit  of  business  has  taken  the  time  to  express  his 
opinion  of  his  occupation.  Mr.  Huidekoper,  drawn  out 
by  a  tirade  against  accumulated  wealth  issued  in  one  of 
the  publications  of  the  day,  wrote  an  article  entitled, 
"  The  Right  and  Duty  of  Accumulation,"  1  which  con- 
tains his  view  on  the  amassing  of  capital. 

Accumulation,  he  says  in  this  article,  is  not  the  pro- 
vision for  physical  wants  alone,  but  rather  for  the  moral 
and  intellectual  needs  of  man.  He  continues :  — 

The  tendency  of  a  business  life  to  develop  the  in- 
tellectual and  moral  powers  must  be  obvious  on  a  mo- 
ment's consideration.  That  such  a  life  is  replete  with 
moral  danger  and  temptation  is  admitted,  but  it  is 
precisely  this  which  constitutes  it  a  school  of  moral  dis- 
cipline. .  .  .  That  .  .  .  labor  when  accompanied  with 
frugality  and  prudence,  has  a  tendency  to  produce  an 
excess  of  earnings  ...  is  assumed.  ...  It  has  some- 
times been  contended,  that  though  it  may  be  lawful  to 
earn  such  surplus  property,  ...  it  is  our  duty  to  dis- 
pose of  it  to  others  as  fast  as  it  accumulates.  But  the 
doing  so  would  be  destructive  of  industry,  and  would 
deprive  business  of  much  of  its  intellectual  and  moral  in- 
fluence. Under  the  present  wise  arrangement  of  things 
the  increased  knowledge  of  business  is  accompanied  by 
an  increase  of  capital  calculated  to  give  activity  and  a 
further  extension  to  these  new-born  powers.  But  if  a  man 
possesses  no  capital  ...  a  business  life,  instead  of  being 
a  scene  of  constant  progression,  will  soon  become  to  him 

1  Published  in  the  Western  Messenger,  August,  1840,  vol.  viii. 


194  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

an  irksome,  unmeaning  task  of  mere  mechanical  drudg- 
ery, possessing  no  intellectual  nor  moral  interest.  .  .  . 
If  it  be  unlawful  to  accumulate,  then  there  is  an  end  of 
all  international  intercourse  ...  all  our  manufacturing 
and  commercial  establishments  .  .  .  must  be  destroyed ; 
.  .  .  there  is  an  end  to  our  public  improvements  .  .  . 
there  is  an  end  to  all  our  colleges,  hospitals,  and  other 
benevolent  institutions,  for  all  were  originally  founded 
and  endowed,  or  are  now  supported  by  the  fruits  of 
accumulation.  .  .  . 

This  argument  might  be  extended  much  farther,  but 
enough,  I  presume,  has  already  been  said  to  show  that 
the  whole  of  our  present  social  system  rests  on  the 
principle  of  accumulation,  and  that  the  destruction  of 
that  principle  would  inevitably  resolve  society  again 
into  a  state  of  barbarism. 

His  final  conclusion,  given,  however,  not  at  the  end 
of  the  essay,  but  in  the  middle,  is  as  follows :  "  I  deem 
the  .  .  .  accumulation  of  property  to  be  ...  in  per- 
fect accordance  with  our  Christian  duty.  It  is  true, 
that  the  possession  of  wealth  imposes  on  us  new  obliga- 
tions and  new  responsibilities.  Wealth,  like  knowledge, 
is  power,  —  power  to  do  good  and  to  be  useful.  Both 
come  to  us  from  God.  To  Him  we  are  accountable  for 
the  use  we  make  of  them." 

Again  we  turn  to  the  autobiography,  which  next 
goes  on  to  speak  of  the  development  of  the  country. 

Although  this  section  of  Pennsylvania  has  not  pro- 
gressed in  improvements  with  the  same  rapidity  that 
some  other  portion  [s]  of  the  United  States  have  done ; 
yet  when  I  look  back  on  what  it  was  when  I  first  knew 
it,  and  consider  what  it  is  now,  the  alteration  is  truly 
surprising.  When  I  arrived  at  Meadville,  the  country 
was  very  thinly  settled.  Industry  was  at  a  low  ebb. 
.The  few  roads  which  had  been  opened  were  impractica- 


THE  AMERICAN  195 

ble  for  wheelcarriages.  On  the  farms,  the  sled  was  used 
even  in  summer,  for  the  purpose  of  hauling ;  and  the 
settlers,  when  they  visited  the  village,  were  most  of 
them  clothed  in  blanket  coats,  and  nearly  all  of  them 
carried  always  with  them  those  common  appendages  of 
the  frontier ;  the  rifle,  the  powderhorn,  the  shotpouch 
and  the  huntingknife.  Now  we  live  in  the  midst  of  a 
comparatively  dense  population,  and  a  civilized  society ; 
and  it  is  but  seldom  that  we  meet  with  any  of  the  relics 
of  those  former  days. 

But  it  is  not  the  physical  aspect  of  the  country  and 
of  the  inhabitants  alone  which  has  been  improved.  A 
very  marked  alteration  for  the  better  has  taken  place 
in  the  moral  condition  of  the  latter.  When  I  arrived 
here  and  for  years  afterwards  there  was  not  a  single 
church,  or  house  of  worship  of  any  kind,  in  any  of  the 
four  North  West  counties,  and  I  believe  there  was  none 
west  of  the  Allegheny  river.  Now  there  is  hardly  a 
hamlet  so  small  that  has  not  at  least  one  house  of  wor- 
ship. The  Rev.  Mr.  Stockton,  a  Minister  of  the  Pres- 
byterian denomination,  was  then  settled  at  Meadville,  on 
a  parochial  income  which  probably  did  not  amount  to 
$150  a  Year.  So  far  as  I  recollect,  he  was  the  only 
Stated  Minister  in  these  four  Counties.  The  Methodists 
held  occasionally  a  camp  meeting,  but  beyond  these 
the  community  possessed  no  opportunities  for  social 
Worship  and  religious  improvement.  Now  there  are 
numerous  Ministers  of  the  Gospel  of  different  denom- 
inations, settled  all  over  this  Country.  Then  the  Com- 
mon schools  were  almost  exclusively  confined  to  the 
county  towns,  and  even  then  they  were  generally  of 
the  poorest  kind.  Now  there  are  several  Schools  in 
every  township.  Finally  intemperance  and  dissipation 
were  then  the  common  besetting  sin  of  the  Commu- 
nity. Instances  of  them  are  yet  but  too  often  met 
with ;  but  they  are  now  only  the  besetting  sins  of  in- 
dividuals. 

As  to  myself,  the  greatest  portion  of  my  life  has 


196  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

been  spent  in  the  West,  and  I  have  been  happy  amidst 
its  simple  pleasures.  Most  of  the  information  I  possess 
has  been  acquired  at  Meadville,  by  reading  and  reflec- 
tion ;  and  I  have  become  thoroughly  convinced,  that 
by  far  the  most  valuable  part  of  a  man's  education  is 
that  which  he  gives  to  himself. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  UNITARIAN 

"  WHAT  is  Unitarianism  ?  —  Nobody  knows  but  Huide- 
koper, and  he  won't  tell."  This  question  and  answer 
passed  into  a  current  saying  in  the  days  when  Uni- 
tarianism first  appeared,  a  new  and  perturbing  element, 
in  the  religious  world  of  America ;  and  its  irresistible 
aptness  causes  it  to  be  repeated  even  now.  The  half 
humorous,  half  baffled  sense  of  hopelessness  expressed 
in  the  reply  can  be  seen  in  the  face  of  any  one  to  whom 
a  conscientious  Unitarian  tries  to  explain  briefly  his 
point  of  view.  It  is  comforting  to  be  reminded  that 
Mr.  Huidekoper,  who  had  written  so  much  and  so 
earnestly  upon  Unitarianism  as  to  be  looked  upon  as 
an  authority  on  the  subject,  met  with  the  common  dif- 
ficulty in  endeavoring  to  give  a  succinct  verbal  account 
of  his  faith.  The  general  applicability  of  the  words  has 
carried  them  far  and  wide.  In  the  distant  middle  West 
the  mention  of  Mr.  Huidekoper' s  name  brings  the  say- 
ing to  the  lip,  and  when  at  a  recent  Unitarian  con- 
vention at  Chicago  the  query  and  response  were  quoted 
by  one  of  the  speakers  they  were  greeted  with  instant 
appreciation  and  applause.  For  Unitarianism,  owning 
no  single  founder,  vouched  for  by  no  synod  and  with- 
out authoritative  sanction,  has  always  covered  so  large, 
vague,  and  shifting  an  area  of  liberal  thought  as  to 
defy  limitation  or  definition.  In  this  country  it  came 
in  the  main  as  a  natural  sequence  of  independence. 


198  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

The  leaven  of  independence,  brought  over  by  Brad- 
ford and  Winthrop,  had  been  at  work  ever  since  the 
days  of  the  Pilgrims,  dividing  congregations,  causing 
schisms  and  isolating  a  church  here  and  a  church  there, 
each  church  or  each  portion  of  a  church  standing  upon 
its  right  of  self-government  and  holding  to  its  indi- 
vidual faith.  Different  names,  in  different  instances, 
were  applied  by  the  orthodox  to  the  innovators,  — 
names  which  implied  ostracism,  and  which  the  offend- 
ing members  themselves  rarely  accepted.  The  titles 
Antinomian,  Arian,  Arminian,  or  Socinian,  thrown  scorn- 
fully at  them,  would  not  adhere.  Among  themselves, 
Congregational  or  Independent  Congregational  usu- 
ally sufficed,  if  they  had  come  out,  as  many  of  them 
had,  from  the  Congregational  churches  of  New  Eng- 
land. Numerous  instances  there  were,  indeed,  like  that 
of  the  First  Church  of  Plymouth,  where  the  liberals, 
outnumbering  the  conservatives,  retained  the  church 
name  with  the  building  and  government,  while  the 
creed  and  its  supporters  were  the  seceding  party. 

The  difficulty  of  applying  to  the  various  liberal  con- 
gregations any  name  descriptive  of  them  all  was  in- 
creased by  the  fact  that  some  societies  had  rebelled 
against  one  doctrine,  some  against  another.  Jonathan 
Mayhew,  pastor  of  the  West  Church  in  Boston,  was 
probably  the  first  in  New  England  to  attack  openly  and 
specially  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity.  But  individualism 
was  so  much  the  order  of  the  day  among  Congregation- 
alists  that  Mayhew's  heterodoxy  made  little  noise  in  the 
world  in  comparison  with  that  which  would  have  been 
awakened  by  a  change  of  belief  in  the  leader  of  a  Pres- 
byterian or  of  an  Episcopalian  congregation.  Ministers 
in  these  denominations  could  not  deviate  from  the  beaten 


THE  UNITARIAN  199 

path  without  bringing  down  on  their  heads  the  censure 
of  the  whole  body  to  which  they  belonged.  Did  one  of 
these  societies  repudiate  any  part  of  its  creed,  then  its 
ancient  privileges,  its  association,  even  its  accustomed 
name  must  be  forfeited.  And  since  in  England  the  new 
movement  was  most  active  among  Presbyterians,  and 
generally  took  the  form  of  discarding  Trinitarian  doc- 
trines, the  contradistinguishing  name  of  Unitarian  first 
became  general  there.  Some  of  the  English  congrega- 
tions, indeed,  offshoots  from  the  Presbyterian  church, 
were  as  loth  to  accept  the  name  as  were  the  Congrega- 
tionalists  of  this  country,  but  there  was  no  refusing  it, 
and  in  the  end  it  was  fastened  upon  them. 

It  was  only  natural,  then,  that  James  Freeman,  reader 
at  King's  Chapel  in  Boston,  on  discovering  in  1785  that 
he  and  his  people  had  together  ceased  to  be  Trinitari- 
ans, should  look  to  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic  for  a 
definition  of  his  position,  and  should,  upon  expulsion 
from  the  Episcopal  denomination,  adopt  the  English 
name  and  establish  his  society  in  the  eyes  of  the  world 
as  the  first  avowedly  Unitarian  church  in  America.  The 
stir  created  by  James  Freeman's  change  of  belief,  and 
also  by  his  expulsion,  gave  the  term  Unitarian  immedi- 
ate significance,  and  with  the  great  mass  of  churchmen 
it  was  synonymous  with  "  heretic  "  and  "  infidel." 

The  term  was  out  of  favor  among  the  liberals  them- 
selves, and  was  hesitatingly  used  even  by  the  most  rad- 
ical among  them.  Although  Priestley,  driven  from  Eng- 
land, established  in  1795  and  1796  two  liberal  churches 
in  Pennsylvania,  both  of  which  were  Unitarian  in  affin- 
ity, his  Philadelphia  church  did  not  formally  take  on 
the  name  Unitarian  until  1819,  and  did  so  then  against 
the  protest  of  the  Boston  men,  who  dreaded  the  attach- 


200  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

ing  of  that  stigma  to  a  society  so  nearly  akin  to  their 
own.  In  that  same  year,  however,  the  Baltimore  church 
accepted  the  name,  and  Channing's  Baltimore  sermon, 
preached  in  the  church  at  the  installation  of  Jared 
Sparks,  did  much  toward  gathering  the  scattered  forces 
under  the  despised  designation,  which  Channing  too 
had  regarded  with  prejudice  at  an  earlier  time. 

The  movement  now  was  to  come  nearer  home,  — 
nearer,  that  is,  to  Mr.  Huidekoper.  A  church,  plainly 
calling  itself  Unitarian,  was  organized  in  Pittsburg  by 
the  Rev.  John  Campbell,  and  in  1823  Mr.  Huidekoper's 
old  friend,  Miss  Mappa,  wrote  to  him  from  Oldenbarne- 
veld,  "  We  have  a  Unitarian  church  in  this  village,  com- 
prising between  sixty  and  seventy  members." 

But  what  is  Unitarianism  ?  Mr.  Huidekoper,  as  we 
know,  despite  the  legend,  spent  much  of  his  life  in  the 
endeavor  to  tell  what  he  conceived  it  to  be.  It  is  his  in- 
dividual view  of  it  with  which  we  are  here  concerned  ; 
and  it  behooves  us  to  remember  meanwhile  that  he  was 
only  one  Unitarian,  and  that  the  true  answer  to  the 
question,  What  is  Unitarianism  ?  must  be  that  not  only 
no  one  knows  except  a  Unitarian,  but  also  that  no  Uni- 
tarian can  speak  for  any  of  the  rest.  For  individualism 
is  still  a  distinguishing  characteristic,  and  the  difficulty 
of  "  telling  "  remains. 

Mr.  Huidekoper's  position  was  carefully  taken,  and 
well  outlined.  As  he  has  said,  he  had  been  duly  trained 
while  a  youth  in  the  Calvinistic  creed  of  the  Baptists ; 
had  been  brought  up  on  the  Heidelberg  Catechism ; 
and,  following  in  his  mother's  footsteps,  had  joined  the 
established  church  of  Holland,  that  Dutch  Reformed 
Church  which  had  won  pre-eminence  over  the  Anabap- 
tists, Mennonites,  and  other  sects  at  an  earlier  day. 


THE  UNITARIAN  201 

While  belonging  to  this  body,  however,  he  knew 
something  of  the  freer  methods  and  broader  outlook  of 
his  father's  people,  having  attended  Mennonite  services 
during  the  years  spent  at  Crefeld.  His  catholicity  of 
mind  enabled  him  to  join,  at  Oldenbarneveld,  in  the 
services  of  a  union  church,  wherein  persons  of  widely 
differing  opinions  met  on  common  ground,  and  prepared 
him  to  work  harmoniously  with  the  Presbyterians  of 
Meadville,  who,  in  their  pioneer  days,  seem  to  have  been 
not  unlike  the  church-goers  of  Oldenbarneveld  in  their 
hospitality.  He  was  a  generous  contributor  to  the  Pres- 
byterian church,  a  constant  attendant  at  its  services,  and 
subscribed  substantially  to  the  fund  for  erecting  the 
meeting-house,  a  building  which  by  written  agreement 
was  to  be  open  for  use  to  other  sects  when  not  required 
by  the  regular  congregation.  As  an  acknowledgment 
of  his  subscription,  twenty  pews  stood  in  his  name.  His 
wife  was  a  Presbyterian,  which  made  it  ah1  the  easier 
for  him  to  worship  in  that  church  ;  and  his  own  large- 
hearted  tolerance  enabled  him  to  draw  religious  suste- 
nance from  almost  any  source.  But  there  came  a  time 
when  he  was  confronted  by  the  needs  of  his  children, 
and  when  his  nursery  philosophers  and  his  growing 
boys  demanded  of  him  a  positiveness  of  statement  which 
he  was  unable  to  give.  The  Heidelberg  Catechism  would 
not  help  him  now.  The  nature  of  the  Trinity,  the  doc- 
trines of  original  sin  and  infant  damnation,  the  concep- 
tion of  hell,  —  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  unfold  these 
to  his  children.  It  is  probable  that  he  had  long  ceased 
to  feel  any  interest  in  them  himself. 

At  this  juncture  he  heard  a  sermon  preached  by  the 
Rev.  John  Campbell  at  the  dedication  of  the  new  Uni- 
tarian church  building  in  Pittsburg.  This  society  had 


202  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

weathered  three  years  of  contumely  and  abuse,  and 
now,  aided  by  Benjamin  Bakewell,  who  was  at  the  head 
of  the  flint-glass  industry  in  Pittsburg  and  a  friend  of 
Mr.  Huidekoper,  had  reached  a  fairly  flourishing  con- 
dition. Mr.  Bakewell,  in  fact,  was  one  of  those  stanch 
Unitarian  laymen  of  whom,  from  Thomas  Firman  in 
England  down  to  Mr.  Huidekoper  himself,  there  have 
been  so  many  striking  examples. 

Mr.  Campbell's  sermon,  and  perhaps  Mr.  Bakewell's 
friendship,  gave  impetus  and  direction  to  the  quest  upon 
which  Mr.  Huidekoper  had  set  forth,  —  the  quest  for 
doctrinal  truth,  or,  as  he  would  quickly  have  limited  the 
statement,  for  truth  as  it  was  taught  in  the  Bible. 

The  Bible  he  searched  through  and  through.  Not 
content  with  reading  and  re-reading,  he  copied  passage 
after  passage  and  wrote  upon  the  various  texts  volumi- 
nous comments,  until  after  prodigious  labor  he  arrived 
at  the  conclusion  toward  which  the  Unitarians  had 
struggled,  with  a  standpoint  quite  his  own,  but  holding 
with  the  new  constituency  certain  ideas  common  to 
most  of  its  members:  the  oneness  of  God,  the  special 
mission  of  Jesus,  the  possible  preservation  of  every  soul. 

To  possess  a  good  thing  was,  with  him,  to  share  it. 
From  Philadelphia  and  Boston  he  obtained  Unitarian 
publications,  sermons,  tracts,  letters,  which  he  sowed 
broadcast  among  his  acquaintances  in  the  West.  In  the 
Meadville  newspaper,  in  conversation,  in  social  life,  he 
was  eager  to  seize  every  opportunity  for  impressing  upon 
those  who  opened  the  subject  the  faith  that  was  in  him. 
This,  it  is  true,  he  seldom  thrust  forward  except  in  re- 
sponse to  assertions  or  inquiries,  but  questioners  found 
him  ready  with  his  replies. 

Letter-perfect  as  to  Bible  text,  as  well  as  assured  in 


THE  UNITARIAN  203 

the  stronghold  of  the  faith  which  he  had  with  infinite 
toil  gathered  from  his  studies,  he  was  a  formidable  an- 
tagonist.1 

"  Is  it  true,  Mr.  Huidekoper,"  said  to  him  one  day  a 
business  acquaintance,  "  that  you  are  a  Unitarian?  " 

"  Yes,  sir,"  answered  Mr.  Huidekoper. 

"  But  how  can  you  be  one  ?  Does  not  Christ  himself 
say, '  All  power  is  given  to  me  in  heaven  and  on  earth'? 
Do  you  not  believe  that  ?  " 

"  Yes,  sir,  I  believe  it,  but  do  you  believe  it  ?  " 

"  Certainly  I  do." 

"  What,  do  you  believe  that  all  power  was  given  to 
him  ?  —  that  all  the  power  he  possessed  was  derived 
power  ?  " 

"  Ah,"  replied  the  man,  "  I  never  looked  at  it  in  that 
way." 

A  kindly  Trinitarian,  elder  in  a  Presbyterian  church, 
rode  five  miles  one  day  for  the  purpose  of  arguing  with 
Mr.  Huidekoper,  to  his  enlightenment.  One  doctrine 
after  another  the  good  man  expounded,  while  Mr. 
Huidekoper  listened  courteously.  When  the  Elder  had 
finished,  his  host  took  up  the  discourse,  and  point  by 
point  maintained  that  these  ideas  were  obtained,  not 
from  the  Bible,  but  from  the  elder's  catechism.  He  put 
a  Bible  into  the  elder's  hand,  and  requested  him  to 
find  passages  in  it  that  would  support  those  views.  The 
elder  turned  the  pages  somewhat  helplessly,  and  then 
said  he  could  look  them  up  better  in  his  own  Bible,  at 
home.  "  Do  so,"  said  Mr.  Huidekoper,  "  and  if  you  will 
bring  the  proofs  here  and  show  them  to  me,  I  will  give 
you  another  farm  to  add  to  the  one  you  have." 

1  It  was  his  custom,  when  considering  a  question,  to  read  the  whole 
New  Testament  through,  with  reference  to  that  particular  question. 


204  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

The  good  elder  never  returned.1 

"  Mr.  Huidekoper,"  a  rash  assailant  once  challenged 
him  in  the  presence  of  a  company  assembled  for  social 
pleasure,  "  if  you  would  only  read  the  first  chapter  of 
Hebrews,  you  could  not  be  a  Unitarian." 

"  Very  well,  madam,"  replied  Mr.  Huidekoper,  no- 
thing daunted  by  the  time  or  place,  "  I  will  read  it  with 
pleasure,  and  read  it  aloud  too,  if  you  wish." 

She  brought  him  a  Bible,  and  pointed  out  a  few  texts. 

"  Excuse  me,"  he  said,  "  we  will  read  the  whole  chap- 
ter." 

So  he  began,  and  read  to  the  end,  stopping  by  the 
way  to  emphasize  and  expound  passages  such  as  those 
in  which  Jesus  is  spoken  of  as  "  appointed,"  as  "  made 
better  than  the  angels,"  as  "  anointed  above  his  fel- 
lows" giving  all  who  were  present  an  impromptu  lesson 
in  the  belief  so  rudely  attacked.2 

Eager  as  he  was  to  lead  his  young  people  into  his  newly 
found  light,  his  forbearance  was  great.  There  was  no 
iconoclasm  in  the  quiet  influence  he  brought  to  bear  upon 
those  who,  like  his  wife's  niece,  had  grown  up  within  the 
Presbyterian  church.  "  You  know  that  in  my  religious 
instructions  to  you  and  my  other  children,"  he  wrote  in 
1825  to  Margaret  Hazlett  at  a  time  when  she  was  visit- 
ing orthodox  friends  in  Pittsburg,  "  I  have  very  seldom 
touched  on  these  topics  [religious  dogmas].  When  your 
understanding  shall  be  more  matured,  I  hope  you  will 
inquire  for  yourself  and  then  embrace  those  opinions 
which  appear  to  you  as  the  most  rational  and  most  in 
conformity  with  the  Scriptures."  He  had  no  desire  to 

1  See  Pomona.  Hall,  by  Alfred  Huidekoper  (privately  printed). 

2  James  Freeman  Clarke,  in  the  Obituary  of  Mr.  Huidekoper,  printed 
in  pamphlet  form. 


THE  UNITARIAN  205 

pull  down  another  faith  to  make  room  for  his  own,  yet  one 
charge  he  gave  to  the  young  girl  with  almost  passion- 
ate earnestness.  "  Never,  oh,  never,  my  dear  Margaret, 
associate  with  that  Being  the  ideas  of  wrath,  vengeance, 
or  vindictive  punishment.  Never  degrade  His  goodness 
by  believing  that  He  was  not  willing  to  forgive  us  un- 
less another  innocent  Being  suffered  in  our  stead  and 
place." 

And  he  was  far  from  wishing  to  leave  his  children  with- 
out religious  instruction.  Single-handed,  for  he  was  at 
first,  so  far  as  he  knew,  the  only  Unitarian  in  the  town, 
he  set  about  organizing  a  Unitarian  church  in  Meadville, 
and  with  this  plan  he  united  another,  that  of  having  his 
children  taught  by  a  Unitarian.  Mr.  Bakewell  had  writ- 
ten him  in  1823 :  "  I  suggested  to  Mr.  Campbell  [who 
had  received  a  letter  from  Mr.  William  Ware,  asking 
what  prospect  there  would  be  for  a  Unitarian  minister 
in 'Western  Pennsylvania]  that  perhaps  a  clever  young 
man  who  would  undertake  the  education  of  a  select  num- 
ber of  boys  and  conduct  the  worship  on  the  Sabbath 
might  possibly  meet  with  encouragement  in  Meadville. 
What  do  you  think  of  it  ? "*  And  in  1825,  acting  either 
upon  Mr.  Bakewell' s  suggestion  or  on  his  own  inspira- 
tion, Mr.  Huidekoper  sent  to  the  east  for  John  Mudge 
Merrick2  to  undertake  the  double  task.  Although  yet 
but  a  student,  not  having  completed  his  course  at  Bow- 

1  The  Independent  Congregational  Church  (Unitarian)  of  Meadville,  Pa., 
by  Earle  Morse  Wilbur,  p.  8.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Wilbur  has  given  in  this  work 
an  interesting  history  of  the  church  from  its  inception. 

3  John  Mudge  Merrick  "  was  tutor  in  Mr.  Huidekoper's  family  from 
October,  1825,  to  October,  1827.  ...  He  afterwards  held  pastorates  at 
Hardwick,  Sandwich,  and  Walpole,  Mass.,  —  at  the  latter  place  for  nearly 
thirty  years.  .  .  .  He  died  at  Charleston,  N.  H.,  where  he  was  minister, 
March  20, 1871,  at  the  age  of  nearly  sixty-seven  years."  —  Ibid.,  pp.  9-11. 


206  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

doin,  Mr.  Merrick  preached  acceptably  in  Meadville  for 
two  years.  He  was  succeeded  in  the  pastorate  in  Decem- 
ber, 1828,  by  Washington  Gilbert,1  a  devoted  and  efficient 
worker,  under  whose  guidance  the  church  was  formally 
organized,  and  adopted  a  constitution.  The  first  article 
of  this  constitution,  which  was  entitled  "  Fundamental 
Principles,"  thus  set  forth  the  conditions  or  require- 
ments of  membership :  "  Every  one  who  believes  in  the 
existence  of  one  God,  and  in  the  divine  mission  of 
Jesus  of  Nazareth  as  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  is 
admissible  as  a  member  of  this  church ;  and  no  other 
profession  of  faith  than  that  contained  in  this  simple 
creed  shall  at  any  time  be  imposed  as  a  condition  of 
church  membership.  Every  person  possesses  the  inalien- 
able right  of  judging  for  himself  in  matters  of  religion, 
and  no  one  has  the  right  to  call  another  to  account  for 
any  religious  opinions  which  he  may  hold." 

Mr.  Gilbert's  successor  was  Ephraim  Peabody.2  At 
the  time  of  Mr.  Peabody's  coming,  Unitarianism  in  the 
little  town  had  already  received  a  new  impetus  through 
the  interest  of  Miss  Margaret  Shippen,  who  had  listened 
to  the  Rev.  William  Henry  Furness  in  Philadelphia,  and 
whose  enthusiasm  finally  helped  to  win  over  from  the 
Episcopal  fold  her  brother,  Judge  Henry  Shippen,  and 
his  family;  cultivated,  charming  people.  Arthur  Cullum 

1  Mr.  Gilbert  arrived  in  December,  1828.    "  He  left  Meadville  in  April, 

1830.  .  .  .  He  held  pastorates  at  Harvard,  West  Newton,  and  Lincoln, 
Mass.,  and  died  at  West  Newton  January  5,  1879,  aged  seventy-eight 
years."  —  Ibid.,  pp.  17-19. 

2  Mr.  Peabody  came  to  Meadville  in  May,  1830.    "  He  left  in  July, 

1831,  to  become  minister  of  the  church  at  Cincinnati.  ...  He  went  later 
to  the  church  at  New  Bedford,  Mass.,  and  became  at  length  the  distin- 
guished minister  of  King's  Chapel  in  Boston,  where  he  died,  November  28, 
1856,  at  the  early  age  of  forty-nine,  universally  loved  and  mourned."  — 
Ibid.,  p.  25. 


THE  UNITARIAN  207 

with  his  wife  and  six  children  were  before  long  added 
to  the  Unitarian  flock,  as  well  as  William  P.  Shattuck 
and  others,  and  all  these  formed  the  nucleus  of  a  circle 
that  became  very  dear  to  Mr.  Huidekoper,  as  well  as 
warm  supporters  of  the  Unitarian  undertakings  insti- 
tuted by  him. 

Once  a  fortnight  the  little  following  gathered  in  the 
Presbyterian  church,  or  in  the  old  log  court-house,  or 
in  the  new  one,  to  hear  the  tutor-minister  preach,  and 
to  sing,  without  the  aid  of  an  organ  or  any  other  instru- 
ment, the  few  Unitarian  hymns  at  their  command.  Their 
music  was  supplemented  by  weekly  practice  on  Sunday 
evenings  at  Pomona,  where  all  assembled  again  for  a 
simple  service  of  song. 

This  close  intercourse  of  a  few  united  persons,  isolated 
by  their  convictions  and  their  single-hearted  devotion  to 
a  common  cause,  placed  the  Meadville  church  among 
congregations  of  the  type  of  the  early  Christians ;  it  was 
a  church  essentially  fervent  and  sincere,  and  acquired  by 
its  concentration  an  influence  which  is  truly  surprising 
when  considered  in  connection  with  its  size. 

Some  letters  written  by  Mr.  Peabody  to  his  mother 
and  sister  show  the  enthusiasm  with  which  he  entered 
upon  his  work. 

Steam  Boat  Alleghany,  Lake  Erie,  June  2,  1830. 
We  have  just  got  out  upon  the  lake  —  and  the  same 
waters  are  rolling  and  roaring  in  my  ears  that  echoed 
to  the  thunders  of  Perry.  I  am  writing  in  a  cabin  that 
is  almost  dark.  We  have  been  detained  in  Buffalo  half 
a  day  by  a  strong  head  wind.  The  lake  is  rolling  now 
like  the  Atlantic.  ...  I  have  had  for  the  most  part  a 
very  pleasant  journey.  Rather  tough  riding  over  the 
Green  Mountains,  though.  Started  from  Brattleboro  at 
2  o'clock  A.  M.  Wretchedly  cold.  Rode  on  and  on  and 


208  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

on  up  mountain  and  down  mountain.  At  length,  three 
miles  this  side  of  Bennington,  at  a  corner,  we  broke  from 
the  woods,  and  looked  down  from  the  tops  of  the  moun- 
tains into  the  most  glorious  prospect  I  ever  beheld.  The 
vast  valley  with  Benniugton  in  its  centre  and  walled  in 
by  south  sloping  mountains  lay  beneath  like  a  picture. 
The  sides  of  the  hills  covered  with  farms  and  trees  and 
beautifully  laid  out.  .  .  . 

Meadville,  June  4.  Arrived  here  at  last,  on  Thurs- 
day evening.  .  .  .  Mr.  Huidekoper  went  around  with 
me  yesterday  to  call  on  some  of  the  people.  They  ap- 
peared quite  intelligent  and  hospitable.  Seven  or  eight 
Unitarian  families  or  parts  of  families.  Strange  to  say 
Unitarianism  here  seems  to  be  more  popular  with  the 
ladies  than  with  the  men.  I  preach  to-morrow.  The 
family  here  are  very  pleasant,  and  Mr.  Huidekoper  one 
of  the  most  intelligent  men  I  have  ever  met  with. 

July  2.  I  have  got  fully  and  fairly  settled  down — my 
scholars  are  around  me  now.  They  are  very  bright  and 
very  forward.  One  of  them 1  has  been  above  half  way 
through  Legendre's  Geometry  and  a  considerable  dis- 
tance in  Chemistry  since  I  came  here.  And  they  are 
not  only  forward  but  very  amiable.  I  could  not  have 
found  better  scholars  in  every  respect  for  one's  comfort 
had  I  searched  the  country  through.  The  family  too  is 
in  all  respects  a  pleasant  one  and  through  them  I  have 
admission  into  the  best  society,  of  course,  in  the  town. 
Mr.  Huidekoper  is  not  only  a  man  of  business  but  a 
man  of  a  highly  cultivated  mind.  He  has  of  late  years 
made  theology  a  study.  He  is  a  Unitarian  Christian 
in  understanding  and  in  feeling.  He  has  quite  a  theo- 
logical library.  .  .  .  The  people  here  are  quite  hospitable. 
I  have  about  thirty-five  to  hear  me,  regularly,  some 
scattering.  We  have  a  small  Sunday  School.  There  are 
a  considerable  number  of  men  who  are  more  Unitarians 
than  anything  else,  but  they  do  not  come  to  our  meet- 
ing. Unitarianism  here  is  deadly  to  one's  political  mflu- 

1  Anna  Huidekoper. 


THE  UNITARIAN  209 

ence.  .  .  .  No  Unitarian  can  be  in  tins  country  and  not 
be  in  earnest  in  his  employment  when  he  looks  about  him 
and  sees  the  minds  and  hearts  of  a  whole  land  crushed 
down  under  the  blind,  brutalizing,  palsying  doctrines  of 
Calvin.  I  think  I  never  saw  the  worth  of  Unitarianism 
so  much  as  since  I  left  home.  It  is  the  faith  I  believe  to 
make  one  truly  religious.  When  I  look  around  me  and 
see  so  many  wandering  on  in  such  total  darkness  I  must 
confess  I  feel  an  inclination  to  preach  rather  more  vio- 
lently against  those  doctrines  than  good  sense  warrants. 

In  the  "  total  darkness  "  of  which  Mr.  Peabody  com- 
plained, the  opposing  forces  of  conservative  and  liberal 
had  already  occasionally  struck  fire.  The  first  of  several 
long  controversies  had  appeared  in  the  public  press.1 

Until  the  year  before  Mr.  Merrick's  coming  Mr. 
Huidekoper  had  pursued  his  way  unmolested.  Although 
he  had  freely  discussed  his  views,  and  had  furnished 
Unitarian  literature  to  inquirers,  Mr.  Van  Liew,  the 
Presbyterian  minister,  had  respected  his  liberty  of  ac- 
tion, and  had  treated  him  with  perfect  tolerance.  Van 
Liew's  pastorate,  however,  came  to  an  end  in  1824,  and 
for  the  succeeding  two  years  the  Rev.  Timothy  Alden,2 

1  Mr.  Huidekoper  was  always  a  believer  in  the  efficacy  of  public  dis- 
cussion. Some  years  later  (December  19,  1839)  he  wrote  to  James  Free- 
man Clarke:  "I  think  our  friends  at  Cincinnati  ought  to  consider  that 
correct  ideas  on  the  great  leading  doctrines  of  religion  are  very  useful 
auxiliaries  towards  the  formation  of  Christian  character;  and  that  such 
ideas  can  only  be  disseminated  in  a  community  where  the  opposite  errors 
prevail  by  controverting  the  prevailing  opinions." 

8  Rev.  Timothy  Alden  came  from  New  York  to  Meadville  in  1815. 
He  was  not  only  first  president  of  Allegheny  College,  but  also  its  founder. 
Through  his  personal  efforts,  mainly,  the  money  and  books  requisite  for 
the  opening  of  the  college  were  procured,  and  among  the  first  to  come 
forward  with  donations  were  the  Unitarians  of  the  East.  The  first  name 
on  his  paper  is  that  of  John  Adams,  ex-president  of  the  United  States, 
who  subscribed  $20  in  books.  Then  follow  the  solid  men  of  Boston,  sixty- 
six  in  number:  "  the  Frothinghams,  the  Channings,  the  Davises,  the  Lor- 
ings,  the  Lowells,  the  Ticknors,  the  Greenleafs,  the  Parkmans,  and  the 


210  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

the  first  president  of  Allegheny  College,  frequently  sup- 
plied the  pulpit.  Mr.  Alden,  and  Mr.  Bushnell 1  after 
him,  considered  it  their  duty  to  warn  people,  not  only 
against  the  new  doctrines,  but  against  those  who  held 
them. 

"  President  Alden  had  for  four  or  five  Sabbaths," 
says  Mr.  Peabody  in  a  letter  of  July  2,  1825,  "  levelled 
the  most  violent  abuse  against  Unitarians.  Mr.  H.  being 
almost  the  only  Unitarian,  then  began  to  grow  tired  of 
it.  So  he  published  an  article  in  the  newspaper  calling 
on  him  to  leave  off  abuse  and  come  to  proof.  The  next 
Sunday  the  Prest.  came  out  with  the  proofs  of  the  Uni- 
tarian errors — among  other  passages  quoted  John  1:5, 
7  —  told  his  hearers  that  it  had  been  doubted  but  as- 
sured them  it  was  perfectly  genuine,  it  being  found  in 
many  ancient  MSS.  Mr.  H.  thought  this  was  quite  too 
much,  and  came  out  again  with  a  full  account  of  the 
text,  and  stated  very  explicitly  that  either  Mr.  Alden 's 
scholarship  or  honesty  was  in  great  jeopardy.  The 
Prest.  never  answered  it,  and  from  that  time  forth 
never  said  a  word,  good  or  bad,  about  Unitarians." 

The  attacks  from  the  pulpit  made  by  Mr.  Alden,  how- 
ever, were  as  nothing  compared  to  the  measures  taken 
against  the  Unitarians  during  Mr.  Bushnell's  first  zeal- 
ous years.  It  was  at  his  instigation,  apparently,  that 
the  Erie  Presbytery  declared  that  all  persons  worshiping 
with  Unitarians  or  Universalists  should  be  considered 
liable  to  be  expelled  from  communion  with  their  own 
church.  Mr.  Huidekoper,  again  appearing  in  the  "  Craw- 

Thayers."  (History  of  Crawford  County,  p.  413.)  Mr.  Huidekoper  gave 
8300.  Mr.  Aldcn's  subsequent  treatment  of  Unitarians,  therefore,  was 
all  the  more  surprising. 

1  Mr.  Bushnell  was  minister  of  the  Presbyterian  church. 


THE  UNITARIAN  211 

ford  Messenger,"  administered  to  Mr.  Bushnell  a  sharp 
rebuke  for  this  stirring  up  of  strife.  Newspapers  in  those 
times  were  not  what  they  are  to-day.  There  were  no 
telegraph  lines  then  to  keep  the  whole  globe  in  electric 
touch  and  to  flood  every  morning's  issue  with  the  latest 
news  from  Berlin,  Tokyo,  or  Timbuctoo.  The  chief  peril 
was  lest  the  press  should  be  drearily  dull.  So  everything 
promising  to  stir  the  surface  of  the  stagnant  water  was 
hailed  as  a  veritable  godsend.  Mr.  Huidekoper's  answer 
to  Mr.  Bushnell,  therefore,  printed  in  the  "Crawford 
Messenger  "  of  November  2, 1826,  found  eager  readers. 
Having  begun  by  contrasting  the  unitedness  of  the 
Meadville  community  with  the  intolerance  of  the  Puri- 
tans, Mr.  Huidekoper  continued  as  follows :  — 

Happily  for  us,  we  had  brought  with  us  to  the  wilder- 
ness a  more  liberal  spirit.  Under  its  guidance  all  contrib- 
uted to  the  support  of  one  common  pastor,  and  as  the  sect 
of  the  Presbyterians  happened  to  be  the  most  numerous 
here,  it  was  from  that  church  that  these  pastors  were 
generally  taken.  In  the  same  spirit  of  brotherly  love  and 
harmony,  men  of  all  sects  united  in  erecting  a  house  con- 
secrated to  the  worship  of  the  Deity,  under  the  express 
stipulation,  that  it  should  at  all  times  hereafter  remain 
open  for  the  worship  of  all.  In  this  manner,  for  up- 
wards of  twenty  years,  public  worship  has  been  sup- 
ported by  our  common  efforts,  and  to  those  who  do  not 
belong  to  the  Presbyterian  church  belongs  the  praise 
that  they  have  always  contributed  liberally  to  the  main- 
tenance of  an  establishment  which  was  not  their  own. 
Such,  sir,  was  our  situation  when  your  arrival  among 
us  introduced  a  new  era.  From  the  moment  of  your  ad- 
vent to  the  ministry  of  this  place  your  every  effort  has 
been  to  divide  and  sever,  and  to  introduce  into  this 
community  that  spirit  of  intolerant  bigotry  which  has 
destroyed  the  peace  of  society  in  so  many  other  places. 


212  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

.  .  .  You  have  gone  farther.  In  your  frantic  zeal  you 
have  dared  to  prescribe  bounds  to  the  mercies  of  the 
Almighty,  and  to  limit  his  salvation  to  the  narrow  cir- 
cle of  your  orthodoxy.  .  .  .  You  appear  to  have  had 
some  misgivings  as  to  your  ultimate  success  in  ... 
subjugating  us;  hence  you  have  taken  the  precaution 
to  call  in  the  Presbytery  to  your  aid  ;  and  at  your  in- 
stance that  body  has  issued  a  mandate,  that  whoever 
shall  hereafter  attend  the  worship  of  the  Unitarians 
or  of  the  Universalists,  or  ichoever  shall  suffer  their 
children  to  attend  such  worship,  shall  be  excommuni- 
cated. .  .  .  Without  stopping  to  show  how  this  decree 
would  operate  on  the  different  members  of  our  commu- 
nity at  large,  [I]  shall  merely  limit  my  remarks  to  its 
operation  on  my  own  family.  I  am  a  Unitarian.  My 
wife  and  her  sister  have  been  for  upwards  of  sixteen 
years  members  of  the  Presbyterian  church.  Now  this 
mandate  enjoins  on  them  under  pain  of  excommunica- 
tion, to  abstain  in  future  from  iQorshipping  with  me, 
and  not  only  that,  but  they  must  also  prevent  my  chil- 
dren from  worshipping  with  their  father.  In  other 
words  you  bid  them  chuse,  either  to  sacrifice  their  con- 
nexion with  your  church,  or  the  domestic  peace  and 
harmony  of  my  family.  Thank  God,  they  had  no  diffi- 
culty in  determining  what  choice  they  would  make.  .  .  . 
I  do  not  call  on  you  to  alter  a  single  one  of  your  re- 
ligious opinions.  With  these  I  have  nothing  to  do.  .  .  . 
All  I  ask  is  that  you  grant  to  others  that  right  of  pri- 
vate judgment  which  you  claim  for  yourself .  .  .  .  You 
are  very  young  yet.  .  .  .  Learn  to  imitate  the  example 
set  you  by  a  Stockton,  a  Van  Liew,  or  your  colleague, 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Smith,  all  of  whom  have,  in  the  ministry 
of  this  place,  rendered  themselves  the  objects  of  univer- 
sal reverence  and  good  will.  .  .  . 

(Signed)        A  FRIEND  TO  RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY. 

For  a  year  after  Mr.  Merrick's  departure  there  were 
no  Unitarian  services  to  arouse  Mr.  Bushnell  further. 


THE  UNITARIAN  213 

But  when  in  1828  Washington  Gilbert  took  up  the 
work,  the  opposition  was  renewed  with  still  greater 
energy.  The  refusal  of  the  church  for  Unitarian  ser- 
vices became  a  frequent  thing.  Sometimes  the  Unitari- 
ans could  carry  their  point  and  meet  there,  sometimes 
they  could  not.  The  story  is  still  told  of  a  Thanks- 
giving day  when  they  were  refused  permission  to  hold 
in  the  church  the  evening  service  for  which  they  had 
planned.  When  the  hour  arrived  the  church  stood 
locked  and  dark.  An  unlocked  window,  however,  was 
discovered,  through  which  one  of  the  young  men  climbed. 
Once  in,  he  hunted  up  the  candles,  put  them  in  their 
candlesticks,  which  were  set  in  their  customary  places 
upon  the  broad  railings  of  the  pews,  lighted  the  build- 
ing, and  opened  the  door ;  the  rest  of  the  Unitarians 
then  entered  decorously  enough,  and  the  Thanksgiving 
service  was  triumphantly  held.  At  another  time  the 
sexton,  anticipating  a  similar  proceeding,  hid  the  candles 
in  the  foot-stoves. 

This  state  of  warfare  could  not  be  indefinitely  con- 
tinued ;  so  Mr.  Huidekoper  closed  his  twenty  pews,  as 
a  practical  protest,  and  withdrew  from  the  contest,  con- 
tenting himself  for  some  years  with  the  Court  House  as 
the  place  of  assembly  for  the  Unitarians. 

However,  the  community  was  in  no  danger  of  being 
allowed  to  remain  in  ignorance  of  the  Unitarian  move- 
ment. The  controversies  were  not  at  an  end.  In  the 
year  1830  the  churches  of  western  Pennsylvania  were 
greatly  stirred  over  the  circulation  of  a  petition  to  the 
United  States  government  for  the  abolition  of  the  laws 
permitting  the  free  transmission  of  the  mails  on  Sun- 
day, or,  as  it  was  called,  the  Sabbath.  The  laws  regard- 
ing private  business  and  travel  were  still  maintained  in 


2U  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

extreme  rigor ;  but  the  exigencies  of  the  public  in  the 
transmission  of  the  mails  were  held  to  be  paramount 
over  every  biblical  or  sectarian  consideration.  This  ac- 
tion on  the  part  of  the  government  inevitably  aroused 
vehement  opposition. 

Two  champions  now  stepped  forward  to  fight  this 
battle  in  the  columns  of  the  "  Crawford  Messenger," 
—  a  contributor  signing  himself  "  Petitioner"  and  Mr. 
Huidekoper.  Fitter  —  certainly  doughtier — champions 
could  hardly  have  been  found.  Each  was  honest  to  the 
backbone,  —  the  one  the  incarnation  of  Presbyterianism 
and  the  Westminster  Catechism,  the  other  equally  the 
incarnation  of  the  sturdy  Dutch  Van  Tromp,  fighter  for 
the  liberty  of  the  seas  in  thought  and  creed.  Each, 
moreover,  carried  his  broom  lashed  to  the  masthead,  in 
symbol  of  his  resolve  to  sweep  the  Channel  clear  of  all 
rival  ships.  All  the  more  because  they  were  constitu- 
tionally and  by  education  incapable  of  understanding 
one  another,  were  they  the  better  fitted  to  exemplify 
the  irreconcilable  antagonism  of  their  positions.  Cer- 
tainly neither  left  any  readers  of  the  "  Crawford  Mes- 
senger "  in  the  least  doubt  where  he  personally  stood. 

As  a  literal  believer  in  the  plenary  inspiration  of  the 
Bible,  "  Petitioner  "  vehemently  appealed  to  Congress 
to  avert  the  wrath  of  Heaven  by  immediately  abolishing 
the  laws  permitting  the  transmitting  of  the  mails  on  the 
Sabbath.  "  We  well  remember,"  he  declared,  "  the  case 
of  a  nation,  —  a  nation  which  felt  the  avenging  hand 
of  God  for  disobedience  to  his  laws,  —  a  nation  sold 
into  bondage  for  seventy  years  that  the  land  might 
enjoy  its  Sabbaths.  We  consider  these  mail  laws  a  pal- 
pable breach  of  the  divine  laws."  So  intense  were  the 
writer's  convictions  in  the  matter  as  to  lead  him  to 


THE  UNITARIAN  215 

declare  that  it  might  be  necessary  to  resort  to  physical 
force  and  civil  war  to  attain  the  object  of  the  petitioner's 
prayer. 

Against  this  argument  Mr.  Huidekoper,  over  the  sig- 
nature of  "  Oberlin,"  took  positive  stand  that  it  was  an 
attempt  to  interpose  the  authority  of  law  to  settle  a  con- 
troversy between  Jews,  Sabbatarians,  and  Christians; 
to  determine  what  part  of  the  time  had  been  set  aside 
by  the  Almighty  for  religious  exercises ;  to  make  a 
legislative  decision  of  a  religious  controversy,  and  to 
restrict  the  rights  of  conscience.  He  urged  the  delivery 
of  the  mails  on  Sunday  on  the  ground  that  it  was  im- 
possible that  a  republic  such  as  ours  should  be  perma- 
nent and  happy  without  the  prevalence  of  unrestricted 
free  communication.  "  What  is  meant,"  he  asked,  "  by 
asserting  that  the  Christian  religion  is  a  part  of  the  law 
of  the  land  ?  Does  the  term  Christian  religion  mean 
that  all  the  dogmas  of  all  the  sects  are  a  part  of  the 
common  law  of  the  land?  Then  every  one  who  does 
not  accept  the  dogmas  is  committing  a  breach  of  the 
common  law  of  the  land." 

To  this  "  Petitioner  "  replies  categorically :  "  I  have 
asserted  that  the  present  postoffice  arrangements  violate 
the  Divine  law,  the  dictum  of  the  Divine  Being,  which 
is  received  as  the  Divine  law.  Thus  in  Exodus  xx.  8, 
I  read  :  t  Remember  the  Sabbath  day  to  keep  it  holy. 
Six  days  shalt  thou  labour,  and  do  all  thy  work  ;  but 
the  seventh  day  is  the  Sabbath  of  the  Lord  thy  God ; 
in  it  thou  shalt  not  do  any  work,  thou,  nor  thy  son,  nor 
thy  daughter,  thy  man  servant,  nor  thy  maid  servant, 
nor  thy  cattle,  nor  the  stranger  that  is  within  thy  gates.' 
This  is  plain  and  positive."  "  Petitioner  "  further  takes 
the  ground  that  every  moral  precept,  that  is,  every  pre- 


216  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

cept  which  is  general  in  its  application  to  man  in  a  na- 
tion, class  and  time,  is  as  obligatory  when  found  in  the 
Old  Testament  as  in  the  New.  The  Fourth  Command- 
ment, he  insists,  is  practical  and  moral  and  not  ceremo- 
nial. "  It  was  spoken  by  the  Almighty  in  a  voice  of 
thunder ;  was  inscribed  in  stone  by  the  finger  of  God, 
and  engraved  in  the  midst  of  nine  other  precepts  con- 
fessedly moral,  none  of  which  conflict  with  any  of  the 
other  laws  confessedly  judicial  or  ceremonial." 

This  controversy  was  for  nearly  a  year  kept  up  in 
long  newspaper  articles.  From  the  outset  it  was  clear 
that  neither  disputant  could  ever  convince  the  other. 
They  argued  from  totally  contradictory  premises :  "  Peti- 
tioner "  from  the  literally  taken  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord  " 
of  the  Bible ;  Mr.  Huidekoper  mainly  from  reason,  his- 
tory, the  practical  demands  of  the  day,  the  newer  ra- 
tional criticism  of  the  Sacred  Books.  "  This  is  no  such 
conception  of  the  Christian  religion,"  he  urges,  "  as 
was  held  by  Washington  and  Franklin  and  the  great 
fathers  of  the  Republic.  It  belongs  rather  to  that  strange 
religion  of  the  Puritans,  who  laid  down  as  a  practical 
principle  that  their  religion  was  part  of  the  law  of  the 
land ;  and  with  what  result  ?  They  hung,  they  burned 
those  who  professed  sufficient  independence  of  mind  to 
refuse  assent  to  the  dogmas  of  their  gloomy  creeds. 
Such  has  been  and  always  will  be  the  result  of  adopt- 
ing as  a  practical  principle  the  dogma  that  any  partic- 
ular religion  forms  part  of  the  law  of  the  land." 

Throughout  the  whole  controversy,  "  Petitioner,"  a 
man  of  intense  convictions  and  a  vigorous  writer,  stood 
resolutely  by  his  guns,  and  made  them  reverberate  with 
all  the  thunders  of  Mt.  Sinai.  No  one  could  read  him 
without  thorough-going  respect  for  the  type  of  indom- 


THE  UNITARIAN  217 

itable  Cromwellian  he  represented.  Jehovah  himself  had 
settled  this  whole  question  of  the  national  iniquity  of 
the  Sunday  mail  laws,  and  nothing  but  vengeance  and 
wrath  could  be  looked  for  at  His  hands  if  they  were 
now  abrogated.  God's  verdict  had  been  indelibly  re- 
corded three  thousand  years  ago  on  adamantine  tablets 
of  stone.  This  transporting  the  mails  on  Sunday  was 
therefore  a  defiant  breach  of  the  everlasting  moral  law, 
a  law  without  variableness  or  shadow  of  turning,  the 
same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  forever. 

To  Mr.  Huidekoper,  on  the  other  hand,  such  rea- 
soning as  this  was  at  once  unwarranted  and  fraught 
with  perilous  results.  The  Mosaic  legislation  had  sim- 
ply nothing  to  do  with  American  legislation. 

As  the  controversy  went  on  and  grew  in  heat,  Mr. 
Huidekoper  gave  free  vent  to  his  abhorrence  of  the 
domination  of  the  country  by  the  clergy  through  their 
claim  of  supernatural  authority.  "A  few  years  ago," 
he  declares,  "  at  the  ordination  of  a  young  man  to  the 
ministry  in  a  neighboring  village,  the  clergyman  asked 
the  congregation  to  promise,  with  uplifted  hands  and 
all  the  outward  solemnity  of  an  oath,  that  they  would 
henceforth  receive  as  the  word  of  God,  and  believe  as 
such,  whatever  their  pastor  should  tell  them  from  the 
pulpit.  Here  we  have  a  tyranny  which,  if  it  has  ever 
been  equalled,  I  doubt  has  never  been  surpassed,  by 
any  edict  of  the  Papal  See  in  the  darkest  ages  of 
Christendom.  Beyond  this  mental  servility  cannot  go." 

Almost  at  the  same  time  with  the  controversy  over 
the  Sunday  mails,  another  about  the  revival  meetings 
of  the  period  was  begun  in  the  "  Crawford  Messenger." 
Mr.  Huidekoper  had  seen  enough  of  the  hysterical 
demonstrations  induced  by  professional  revivalists  to 


218  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

feel  very  strongly  their  danger  to  excitable  tempera- 
ments. His  favorite  neice,  Margaret  Hazlett,  for  ex- 
ample, had  been  paying  a  visit  in  a  household  where 
extreme  devotion  to  a  series  of  meetings  had  quite 
taken  possession  of  the  hostess,  who  knew  no  modera- 
tion in  her  feverish  attendance. 

An  article  originally  printed  in  a  Baltimore  paper, 
and  entitled  "  Religious  Dissipation,"  attracted  Mr. 
Huidekoper's  attention  as  something  likely  to  direct 
people's  thoughts  to  the  subject,  and,  in  the  interests 
of  common  sense,  he  sent  the  clipping  to  the  "  Messen- 
ger." It  reflected  severely  on  a  class  of  people  whom 
it  pictured  as  never  easy  unless  attending  some  re- 
ligious gathering,  hearing  some  exhortation  or  prayer, 
listening  to  the  recital  of  experiences  and  in  turn  re- 
citing their  own,  never  in  fact  at  rest  unless  enticed 
away  from  the  claims  of  their  real  duties  to  the  fruit- 
less performance  of  imaginary  ones.  Its  appearance  in 
the  "  Messenger's  "  columns  was  the  signal  for  a  spir- 
ited attack  on  him,  as  he  was  mistakenly  supposed  to 
be  its  author.  To  this  attack  Mr.  Huidekoper  was  not 
slow  to  respond.  "  Presbyterian "  this  time  was  the 
name  under  which  his  antagonist  wrote,  and  the  dis- 
cussion, on  "  Presbyterian's"  part  at  least,  waxed  warm. 
Mr.  Huidekoper  held  that  of  a  certain  kind  of  reli- 
gious excitement  it  was  quite  possible  to  have  far  too 
much.  Religion  ought  to  be  an  abiding  principle,  keep- 
ing itself  alive  in  the  breast  through  its  own  inward 
vitality.  Once  lodged  in  the  heart,  it  ought  to  prove 
itself  motive  and  cheer  in  the  daily  round  of  common 
duty,  idealizing  it  and  giving  it  life.  Man  was  endowed 
with  a  widely  varied  nature.  He  should  cultivate  his 
faculties  all  around;  he  should  be  a  reader  and  a 


THE  UNITARIAN  219 

thinker ;  he  should  feel  keenly  interested  in  civic 
affairs;  he  should  promote  intellectual,  refining,  and 
charming  social  Life  and  diversions  in  the  community ; 
he  should  develop  resources  within  himself  which 
would  save  him  from  the  restlessness  and  shallowness 
of  perpetually  running  after  outside  excitement. 

To  Mr.  Huidekoper's  opponent,  on  the  other  hand, 
this  was  a  lost  world.  Those  that  were  saved  from  it 
were  saved  as  by  fire.  By  his  fallen  nature  ever  tend- 
ing to  destruction,  man  needed  every  external  help  to 
keep  him  mindful  of  eternal  things. 

Here  was  the  age-old  fight  which  has  been  waged 
between  the  champions  of  this  world  and  of  the  world 
to  come,  between  the  claims  of  the  now  and  of  the 
hereafter,  between  any  possible  kingdom  of  God  on 
earth  and  the  far-away  kingdom  in  the  heavens.  Each 
party  in  it  is  almost  invariably  plunged  by  tempera- 
ment into  extremes  of  this-worldliness  or  pther-worldli- 
ness. 

The  interest  of  such  controversies  of  the  past  lies 
mainly  in  the  historical  light  they  cast  on  the  state  of 
mind  prevailing  at  the  time  of  their  occurrence.  Mr. 
Huidekoper's  ideas  were  really  more  revolutionary  than 
he  himself  recognized.  He  stood  on  the  threshold  of 
the  new  age  of  science,  of  free  investigation  and  free 
criticism ;  in  his  own  part  of  the  country  a  pioneer  in 
the  advocacy  of  principles  which  have  since  profoundly 
modified  the  creeds  and  practice  of  all  denominations 
of  Protestants. 

A  comparatively  peaceful  period  was  that  covered  by 
Mr.  Peabody's  sojourn  in  Meadville.  He  was  in  every 
way  congenial  to  the  people  he  was  with,  and  gave 
himself  unsparingly  to  the  community,  organizing  and 


220  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

carrying  on  services  in  the  outskirts  of  the  town, — 
open-air  services  in  the  maple  grove  in  summer,  indoor 
services  in  winter,  —  and  even  taking  part  in  matters 
quite  aside  from  his  prescribed  duties. 

"I  have  to  work  hard  —  very  hard,"  he  wrote  in 
August,  1830,  "  but  I  like  labor,  i.  e.,  if  it  is  not 
before  breakfast  nor  after  dinner.  I  have  got  to  be 
quite  an  expert  rider  on  horseback,  and  expect  to 
become  much  more  so.  I  enjoy  myself  finely.  Take  a 
long  walk  after  breakfast  —  hear  lessons  and  study  and 
read  till  twelve  —  then  walk,  eat  dinner  —  hear  lessons 
in  the  afternoon  —  at  five,  walk  again  —  come  to  sup- 
per, talk  awhile  —  take  another  walk  and  perhaps  make 
one  or  two  calls.  Come  back  and  drink  some  cold 
coffee  which  is  regularly  set  by  for  me  —  go  to  my 
room  and  write  sermons.  About  three  quarters  of 
my  walks  are  to  and  fro  on  the  piazza,  when  Mr. 
Huidekoper  and  myself  discuss  Unitarianism.  The 
rest,  up  river  and  down  river,  up  street  and  down  street. 
A  tailor,  one  of  my  parishioners,  made  me  a  coat  and 
pantaloons  at  the  beginning  of  summer.  The  other  day, 
when  I  went  to  pay  my  bill,  he  refused  to  take  any- 
thing. This  he  does  likewise,  he  said,  to  all  ministers  who 
do  not  receive  regular  salaries,  e.  g.,  the  Methodists." 

In  addition  to  all  his  other  undertakings  Mr.  Peabody 
established  at  Meadville  a  periodical,  the  "  Unitarian 
Essayist,"  which  gave  Mr.  Huidekoper  keen  satisfaction 
and  enabled  him  to  send  to  hundreds  of  people  the  re- 
sults of  his  theological  studies.  It  was  "  very  small  and 
cheap,"  Mr.  Peabody  confessed,  and  was  to  be  written 
mainly  by  Mr.  Huidekoper  and  himself,  but  it  would 
form,  when  all  the  numbers  in  prospect  were  issued,  "a 
sort  of  treatise  on  Unitarianism." 


THE  UNITARIAN  221 

"It  is  thought  that  circumstances  require  such  a 
publication,"  runs  Mr.  Peabody's  prospectus,  issued 
January  1, 1831.  "  The  religious  opinions  which  we  en- 
tertain, we  esteem  of  priceless  worth.  .  .  .  These  opin- 
ions we  hear  perpetually  misrepresented.  .  .  .  Men  are 
warned  against  our  places  of  worship  and  our  books; 
our  arguments  are  carefully  evaded.  .  .  .  Under  such 
circumstances  we  cannot  remain  silent.  .  .  .  The  work 
proposed  .  .  .  will  be  published  in  monthly  numbers 
of  twelve  duodecimo  pages  each.  The  subscription  price, 
seventy-five  cents  a  year,  to  be  paid  on  the  delivery  of 
the  second  number." 

Even  as  he  thus  set  afloat  the  slender  venture,  its 
editor  knew  that  he  could  not  long  guide  its  course. 
At  midsummer  he  left  Meadville  for  Cincinnati,  to  the 
great  regret  of  his  Meadville  friends.  The  "  Essayist " 
then  continued  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  Huidekoper  alone. 

Mr.  Huidekoper' s  letters  to  Mr.  Peabody  are  full  of 
the  success  of  the  paper,  and  of  active  interest  in  mat- 
ters pertaining  to  the  church,  as  well  as  of  a  warm  per- 
sonal regard.  "  Oh,  my  dear  friend,"  he  says  in  one  of 
them,  "  if  I  only  had  you  for  my  coadjutor  I  should 
have  some  hope  of  seeing  our  society  increasing  rap- 
idly." It  was,  meanwhile,  steadily  growing  and  the 
"  Essayist  "  was  accomplishing  its  work. 

On  September  8,  1831,  he  wrote : *  — 

I  lately  met  with  something  which  was  of  an  encour- 
aging nature.  While  at  Warren  a  Mr.  Smith,  a  lawyer, 
formerly  from  Philadelphia,  now  from  Ohio,  was  at  Mrs. 
Shippen's  and,  hearing  her  express  some  heterodox  opin- 
ions respecting  original  sin,  he  undertook  to  convert 
her.  After  an  argument  of  some  hours  she  asked  him 

i  H.  J.  H.  to  E.  Peabody. 


222  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

to  read  the  July  and  August  numbers  of  the  "  Essay- 
ist." He  did  so,  and  found  them  convincing.  She  next 
asked  him  to  read  the  previous  numbers,  on  the  Divine 
Unity.  He  read  these  the  same  evening,  became  a  sub- 
scriber to  the  "  Essayist,"  and  left  here  the  next  day 
almost  if  not  quite  a  Unitarian. 

Our  friend  Mrs.  Shippen  comes  on  charmingly.  Mr. 
James  l  called  on  her  to  know  why  she  absented  herself 
from  his  communion,  and  she  has  told  him  the  cause 
candidly.  He  is  now  preaching  a  series  of  sermons  for  her 
special  benefit.  .  .  .  Two  weeks  ago  he  pronounced 
the  Unitarians  accursed.  If  he  should  continue  in  his 
present  strain  I  have  some  hopes  that  he  will  drive  even 
Mrs.  Hazlett  back  to  our  church. 

I  am  much  pleased  with  Mr.  Nichols,2  who  is  a  worthy 
young  man  of  good  talents.  ...  It  was  a  disadvan- 
tage to  Mr.  N.  to  come  after  you.  You  were  deservedly 
such  a  general  favorite  with  all  of  us,  that  your  succes- 
sor could  hardly  expect  to  please  in  the  beginning.  The 
audiences  at  church  have  been  of  late  very  respect- 
able. .  .  . 

I  forgot  to  mention  that  when  Mr.  James  called  on 
Mrs.  Shippen  he  recommended  to  her  to  read  Wilber- 
force's  work.  This  led  her  to  ask  me  for  some  books. 
I  gave  her  Yates'  "  Vindication,"  Sparks'  Letters,  Co- 
gan's  Letter  to  Wilberforce,  Worcester  on  the  Atone- 
ment, and  the  "Essayist."  I  understand  that  she  de- 
clares the  latter  perfectly  convincing,  and  of  Worcester's 
book  she  says  that  it  is  delightful.  I  am  also  told  that 
the  Presbyterians  and  Methodists  have  quarreled  since 
you  left  here  about  the  doctrine  of  election,  and  that 
the  latter  carry  the  last  "  Essayist "  about  in  decisive 
proof  that  they  are  right. 

1  Rector  of  the  Episcopal  church  at  Meadville. 

2  George  Nichols,  a   graduate  of  Harvard,  arrived    fresh    from   the 
Divinity   School    in  July,  1831.    He   left   Meadville    in  July,  1832,  and 
afterward  became  literary  critic  for  the  University  Press  at  Cambridge, 
Mass.,  where  he  died  July  6,  1882,  aged  seventy-three  years. 


THE  UNITARIAN  223 

Mr.  James,  it  may  be  added,  did  not  cease  his  efforts 
until  the  whole  Shippen  family  were  well  preached  out 
of  his  church. 

On  May  4,  1832,  Mr.  Huidekoper  wrote  to  Mr.  Pea- 
body  :  — 

You  will  learn  with  pleasure,  that  Judge  Shippen  has 
in  a  measure  dissolved  his  connection  with  the  Episco- 
pal Church,  and  now  on  the  Sunday  stays  at  home  and 
reads  for  himself  and  Mrs.  Shippen  sermons  of  ... 
Channing,  Buckminster,  etc.  The  manner  in  which  this 
was  brought  about  was  merely  this.  The  Judge  was 
always  only  half  orthodox,  and  his  lady's  withdrawing 
from  the  Church  had  its  effect.  Next  came  Mr.  James' 
rather  too  great  interference  with  the  Judge's  children. 
What,  however,  brought  the  matter  to  a  crisis  was,  that 
the  Judge  having  observed  to  Mr.  J.  that  it  would  be 
better  to  use  the  gospels  more  and  the  epistles  less,  Mr. 
J.  undertook  to  convince  him  that  our  Savior  did  not 
come  to  make  a  revelation,  but  to  be  the  subject  of  a 
revelation,  and  advanced  what  in  my  letter  to  Mr.  J. 
are  called  the  new  doctrines.  Mr.  James  also  preached 
on  this  subject,  and  lent  the  Judge  the  book  of  Dr. 
Whately  from  which  he  had  taken  these  sentiments. 
The  Judge  was  frightened  at  the  length  to  which  all 
this  led,  and  took  to  his  Bible  to  examine  for  himself, 
and  you  know  what  that  leads  to.  Mr.  James  called  on 
the  Judge  to  inquire  why  he  staid  away.  The  Judge  told 
him  that  he  was  examining  for  himself  and  had  become 
convinced  that  Christ  came  to  make  a  revelation,  not 
to  be  the  subject  of  one,  declined  Mr.  J.'s  offer  to  speak 
to  the  Bishop,  and  read  him  a  lecture  on  intolerance.  The 
Judge's  children,  too,  begin  to  feel  uneasy  under  their 
connection  with  the  Church.  The  boys  say  plainly  that 
they  are  Unitarians,  and  Miss  Frances  says  that  she  does 
not  know  how  to  get  along  any  more  at  the  Sunday 
School,  as  she  has  ceased  to  believe  in  the  catechism. 


224  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

Mr.  James  was  predestined  to  cripple  his  own  cause. 
His  next  service  to  the  Unitarians  was  to  try  to  close  a 
school  which  Miss  Jerusha  Dewey,  sister  of  the  Rev. 
Orville  Dewey,  had  opened  in  Meadville.  Naturally 
enough,  she  had  also  joined  the  Unitarian  church,  and 
her  doing  this  was  the  signal  for  Mr.  James  to  advance 
against  her  with  all  the  indiscretion  of  which  he  proved 
himself  master.  A  letter  from  Edgar  Huidekoper  to 
Mr.  Peabody  tells  the  tale  as  follows :  — 

Perhaps  you  have  heard  that  a  Miss  Dewey  had 
opened  a  select  school  here.  The  Rev.  Mr.  James  took 
offense  at  that  because  she  was  a  Unitarian,  and  went 
to  all  the  parents  who  sent  with  whom  he  thought  he 
could  have  any  influence  and  endeavoured  to  induce 
them  to  withdraw  their  children  from  Miss  Dewey's 
school  —  among  others  to  a  widow  lady  who  lives  in 
town  and  whose  daughter  my  father  with  her  mother's 
permission  had  placed  at  school  at  my  father's  ex- 
pense. On  hearing  this  my  father  wrote  a  note  to  Mr. 
James  to  know  whether  it  was  so  or  not.  Mr.  James, 
instead  of  answering  "  yes  "  or  "  no,"  sends  back  an 
answer  of  five  long  closely  written  pages,  —  stating  that 
he  had  done  so,  and  would  do  every  thing  in  his  power 
to  break  up  Miss  Dewey's  school,  and  threatening  Miss 
D.  with  his  vengeance  unless  she  relinquishes  her  school. 
He  has  got  another  lady  under  his  direct  patronage  to 
teach  an  opposition  school.  If  I  had  time  to  copy  the 
whole  I  would  send  you  a  copy,  but  you  must  be  con- 
tent with  extracts.  He  says  :  — 

"  I  hold  that  Unitarian  opinions  are  not  only  dan- 
gerous when  openly  avowed  and  taught,  but  that  they 
necessarily  so  affect  the  principles,  conduct,  and  con- 
versation of  those  who  entertain  them  as  to  be  danger- 
ous to  all  who  come  closely  and  frequently  in  contact 
with  the  operations  of  a  mind  under  their  influence,  or 
with  habits  they  have  produced.  It  is  not  enough  that 


THE  UNITARIAN  226 

an  evil  be  avoided,  but  also  such  constant  and  intimate 
intercourse  with  those  who  are  suffering  from  it  as  will 
probably  communicate  it.  ...  I  wish  and  I  pray  for 
peace,  but  you  are  taking  almost  every  method  of  pro- 
voking contention.  Did  you  expect  that  we  would  suf- 
fer you  to  get  up  a  school  without  opposition  ?  For  my 
own  part  I  have  studiously  withheld  from  much,  in  order 
to  preserve  at  least  a  courtesy  with  you.  .  .  .  But  Sir, 
your  attempts  for  the  spread  of  your  opinions  are  going 
too  far.  .  .  .  She  [Miss  D.]  has  permitted  herself  to 
be  put  forward  in  a  prominent  station  where  if  there 
be  hostilities,  she  must  suffer  from  them.  But  I  trust 
that  controversy  and  bitterness  may  be  averted  —  that 
she  will  relinquish  a  school  which  if  it  is  continued, 
must  produce  discord." 

This  letter,  which  is  filled  up  all  in  the  same  manner, 
was  sent  round  to  some  of  the  good  Episcopalians  to 
read.  Messrs,  the  Episcopalians  and  Presbyterians  are 
now  going  hand  in  hand.  Messrs.  James  and  Bushnell, 
D and  R ,  are  talking  of  editing  a  paper. 

As  Mr.  Huidekoper  was  very  busy  and  disinclined  to 
spend  his  time  in  replying  to  Mr.  James,  he  at  first  tried 
the  expedient  of  sending  Mr.  James's  letter  to  Bishop 
Onderdonck,  "asking  his  protection  for  a  deserving 
young  lady,  thus  unworthily  persecuted  by  one  of  his 
ministers."  The  bishop,  however,  having  returned  a 
suave  answer  merely  deprecating  a  dispute  in  which,  he 
intimated,  there  was  evidently  heat  on  both  sides,  Mr. 
Huidekoper  came  out  in  the  "  Essayist "  with  this  scath- 
ing rebuke  to  Mr.  James. 

"  Your  attempt  to  deprive  Miss of  her  school  was 

an  unmanly  act.  .  .  .  The  day  has  been,  and  that  not 
long  since,  when  I  could  have  proudly  asserted  that  there 
was  no  man  in  our  community  who  could  be  guilty  of 
such  an  act.  That  day  has  passed  by,  .  .  .  the  spirit  of 


226  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

fanaticism  has  visited  our  once  peaceful  village.  .  .  . 

Miss was  among  us  a  stranger.  .  .  .  She  had  come 

among  us  to  render  her  talents  useful  to  herself  and  to 
society,  in  the  only  way  which,  from  her  previous  edu- 
cation and  the  delicate  state  of  her  health,  was  open  to 
her,  the  instruction  of  young  females.  .  .  .  You  your- 
self admit  that  .  .  .  she  did  not  make  use  of  her  inter- 
course with  her  pupils  to  instil  into  their  minds  her  own 
peculiar  religious  opinions.  .  .  .  And  yet,  Sir,  you  .  .  . 
became  her  persecutor.  .  .  .  For  shame,  Sir,  is  this  a 
conduct  becoming  a  man,  a  gentleman,  a  minister  of 
the  gospel?  And  you  want  us  to  embrace  your  sys- 
tem? No,  Sir  ...  we  cannot  embrace  a  system,  the 
fruits  of  which  are  so  unchristian." 

Nor  does  the  opportunity  to  defend  the  Unitarian 
views  pass  unimproved.  Mr.  Huidekoper  goes  on  to  ask 
if  those  ideas  can  in  themselves  be  considered  dangerous 
to  a  community.  Or,  he  says,  and  he  knows  that  his 
words  will  wholesomely  startle  some  of  the  "  Essayist's  " 
three  hundred  and  forty  subscribers,  look  at  the  char- 
acters of  some  eminent  Unitarian  men,  and  judge  if  they 
have  been  hurtful.  "  The  first  to  whom  I  shall  refer 
are  the  patriarchs  and  other  pious  men  of  whom  we 
read  in  the  Old  Testament.  These  men  were  Unitari- 
ans. Their  minds  were  deeply  imbued  with  the  belief 
in  the  simple  unity  of  God.  Therefore,  according  to 
the  principles  laid  down  by  you,  all  communication 
with  them  ought  to  have  been  avoided  by  their  fellow 
citizens.  ...  In  coming  down  to  modern  times  I  shall 
confine  myself  to  Unitarians  of  England  and  of  our 
own  country  .  .  .  and  even  of  these  I  shall  bring  for- 
ward only  a  very  few.  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  Locke,  and 
Milton  were  Unitarians.  .  .  .  Lardner  was  a  Unita- 


THE  UNITARIAN  227 

rian.  .  .  .  Cappe,  Lindsey,  Buckminster,  Thacher,  and 
Abbott  were  Unitarians.  .  .  .  And  yet  these  are  the 
men  with  whom  you  would  interdict  all  intercourse, 
and  whom  you  undertake  to  consign  to  everlasting 
perdition.  Rash,  intolerant  man.  .  .  .  Moderate  that 
unbounded  proselyting  zeal  by  which  you  are  now 
incited.  Dismiss  the  opinion  so  dishonorable  to  God, 
and  which  lies  at  the  root  of  all  your  intolerance,  that 
the  salvation  of  man  depends  on  his  believing  certain 
disputed  dogmas.  Cease  to  persecute.  Learn  to  become 
charitable,  and  let  the  future  strife  between  us  be,  who 
shall  show  himself  the  most  zealous  in  the  cause  of 
Christianity  by  best  practising  its  precepts."  l 

The  "  Essayist,"  although  it  printed  this  letter,  was 
devoted  mainly  to  the  discussion  of  points  of  doctrine, 

1  "  I  have  taken  the  liberty,"  he  wrote  to  his  daughter  Anna,  March 
10,  1832,  then  visiting  friends  in  Philadelphia,  "  to  examine  both  the 
gentleman's  conduct  and  the  position  he  takes  in  the  last  number  of 
the  Essayist,  of  which  I  send  you  a  copy.  I  need  not  tell  you  that  the 
respect  for  the  opinion  of  the  amiable  family  in  which  you  reside  re- 
quires that  you  should  not  lay  the  Essayist  on  your  table  where  it  would 
be  open  to  the  inspection  of  any  one;  but  if  you  should  be  questioned  as 
to  the  contents  of  this  or  any  other  number,  you  may  then  give  them 
without  hesitation,  as  that  Essay  corrects  misrepresentations  that  may  be 
made  as  to  their  contents."  In  another  letter  written  at  about  the  same 
time,  March  23, 1832,  he  says:  "Although  Mr.  James  and  his  man  Mr. 

D combined  with  Mr.  R and  all  the  other  Presbyterian  leaders 

to  break  up  Miss  Dewey's  school,  they  did  not  succeed.  She  had  about 
20  scholars  the  second  quarter,  and  will  have,  I  believe,  as  many  the 
third.  Mr.  James'  speculation  No.  1  in  schoolmistresses  was  not  fortu- 
nate. He  represented  Miss  as  a  '  none  such,'  sent  expressly  by 

Providence  at  that  particular  juncture  to  save  the  children  from  danger. 
Unfortunately  for  him,  the  lady  proved  a  terrible  vixen,  possessing  a 
temper  so  ungovernable  as  to  cause  her  sanity  to  be  seriously  questioned. 
After  being  a  severe  plague  to  Messrs.  James  &  Co.  and  a  perfect  tor- 
ment to  the  poor  children,  the  connection  was  dissolved  before  the  end 
of  the  quarter,  Mr.  James  undertaking  to  manage  the  school  himself 
until  he  can  procure  schoolmistress  No.  2,  who  is  expected  shortly  from 
Chautauqua  County,  New  York." 


228  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

and  was  in  truth  practically  an  exponent  of  Mr.  Huide- 
koper's  views.  Mr.  Huidekoper  tried  to  draw  upon  out- 
side sources  for  contributions,  but  the  fact  remains  that 
all  of  the  first  twelve  numbers  and  six  of  the  essays 
of  the  second  twelve  were  written  by  him,  and  as  they 
stand  in  the  two  volumes  of  the  "  Essayist,"  each  vol- 
ume consisting  of  about  one  hundred  and  seventy  pages, 
they  present  a  careful  setting  forth  of  the  doctrines  of 
the  unity  of  God,  of  the  nature  of  sin,  of  the  power  of 
Jesus  to  assist  us  against  sin,  and  of  the  future  life,  as 
Mr.  Huidekoper  found  these  doctrines  expounded  in  the 
Bible.  Beyond  the  Bible,  in  doctrinal  matters,  he  did 
not  wish  to  go.  In  his  short  message  "  To  the  Public," 
which  closes  the  career  of  the  "  Essayist,"  he  says,  — 
"  In  his  [the  editor's,  that  is,  Mr.  Huidekoper' s]  re- 
searches, truth,  —  truth  as  it  is  found  in  the  teachings 
of  Jesus,  has  been  his  only  object.  .  .  .  He  is  attached 
to  Unitarianism  because  he  believes  it  to  be  the  doc- 
trine of  the  sacred  Scriptures,  and  the  foundation  of  all 
true  religion." 

His  essays,  consistently  with  this  belief,  are  from  first 
to  last  earnest  appeals  to  biblical  authority,  which  nat- 
urally yielded  to  him  abundant  confirmation  of  his  own 
instinctive  and  rational  predilections.  Nine  chapters  on 
the  Unity  of  God  open  his  missionary  labors,  for  such 
they  were  indeed,  and  the  sum  and  substance  of  the 
nine  he  lays  down  in  these  introductory  paragraphs :  — 

"  The  opinions  held  by  Unitarians  with  respect  to  the 
Deity  are  very  simple.  They  believe  in  One  God,  a  Being 
perfect,  undivided  uncompounded  Unity,  One  Eternal 
Divine  Mind.  They  do  not  believe  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
to  be  the  self-existent  omnipotent  Jehovah,  but  his  Mes- 
senger. .  .  .  Although  they  believe  him  to  be  highly 


THE  UNITARIAN  229 

exalted  above  all  other  created  Existences  .  .  .  yet  they 
believe  also  that  he  has  nothing  but  what  he  received 
from  his  Heavenly  Father,  and  that  with  respect  to  God 
he  is  a  subordinate,  dependent  Being.  .  .  . 

"  Concerning  the  Holy  Spirit,  Unitarians  believe  that 
it  is  not  a  Person  distinct  from  the  Father,  but  his  spirit, 
his  power  and  energy,  and  that  in  most  places  in  the 
New  Testament  where  we  meet  with  this  word  we  must 
understand  by  it  those  miraculous  powers  which  were 
imparted  to  Christ  without  measure  and  to  his  disciples 
and  the  early  Christians  in  lesser  degrees." 

Arguments,  Scripture  texts,  refutation  of  Trinitarian 
doctrines,  reassertion  of  the  Unitarian  view  make  up 
the  carefully  constructed  pages  which  follow.  In  read- 
ing them  no  one  can  escape  the  feeling  that  the  Unita- 
rianism  of  seventy  years  ago  is  almost  the  Orthodoxy  of 
to-day. 

Quite  of  a  piece  with  his  articles  on  the  Unity  of  God 
is  the  essay  on  the  Unitarianism  of  the  first  three  cen- 
turies.1 In  this  he  argues  that  the  Apostles,  their  early 
converts  to  Christianity,  and  the  fathers  of  the  church 
all  believed  that  Jesus  was  a  being  perfectly  distinct 
from  and  subordinate  to  the  Deity,  and  that  Unitarian- 
ism,  or  the  belief  in  the  simple  unity  of  God,  was  the 
uniform  belief  of  the  primitive  church. 

In  the  first  century,  he  says,  we  meet  with  no  other 
creed  than  the  simple  one  contained  in  the  Scriptures, 
namely,  that  Jesus  of  Nazareth  is  the  Messiah  or  Christ 
of  God.  From  the  beginning  of  the  second  century  to 
the  year  325,  the  creed  generally  known  as  the  Apos- 
tles' Creed  was  the  rule  of  faith  in  the  church.  When 
in  the  writings  of  the  third  century,  we  meet  with  the 

1  Essayist,  vol.  ii.  p.  149. 


230  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

term  Trinity,  we  must  not  give  to  it  the  meaning  which 
it  now  has.  The  Trinity  of  that  age  was  composed  of 
the  Supreme  God  and  of  two  other  beings,  perfectly 
distinct  from  and  subordinate  to  him,  called  the  Son 
and  the  Holy  Spirit,  who  acted  as  ministers  of  the  Su- 
preme God.  And  even  this  approach  to  belief  in  a 
Trinity,  a  belief  which  may  be  traced  to  the  influence 
on  the  simpler  tenets  of  Christianity  by  the  philosophy 
of  the  later  Platonists,  was  resented  by  the  mass  of  the 
early  Christians.  "  To  prove  this,"  he  continues,  "  and 
to  show  the  aversion  which  the  multitude  had  to  even 
this  qualified  species  of  Trinity,  we  shall  cite  a  passage 
from  Tertullian.  .  .  .  He  says,  *  The  simple,  the  igno- 
rant, and  unlearned,  who  are  always  the  greater  body  of 
the  Christians,  .  .  .  not  understanding  that  the  unity 
of  God  is  to  be  maintained  but  with  the  ^Economy,1 
dread  this  ^Economy ;  imagining  that  this  number  and 
disposition  of  a  trinity  is  a  division  of  the  unity.  They 
therefore  will  have  it  that  we  are  worshippers  of  two,  or 
even  three  Gods,  but  that  they  are  the  worshippers  of 
one  God  only.  We,  they  say,  hold  the  Monarchy.2  Even 
the  Latins  have  learned  to  bawl  out  for  the  Monarchy, 
and  the  Greeks  themselves  will  not  understand  the 
./Economy  ' !  " 

A  suggestion  which  Mr.  Huidekoper  throws  out  con- 
cerning the  rapidity  of  the  spread  of  Christianity  in  the 
first  three  centuries  and  the  comparatively  slow  increase 
of  it  in  modern  times  pursues  the  same  subject.  In  "  A 
Fact  and  an  Inference,"  published  in  the  "  Western 

1  This  term  was  used  at  that  time  to  express  the  agency  of  the  Son,  or 
of  the  Son  and  the  Holy  Spirit,  in  the  administration  of  the  Universe. — 
H.  J.  I I.'s  note. 

a  By  this  term  the  ancients  expressed  the  undivided  supremacy  of  the 
Father. — H.  J.  H.'s  note. 


THE  UNITARIAN  231 

Messenger,"  l  he  holds  the  introduction  of  the  doctrine  of 
the  Trinity  responsible  for  the  retarded  progress  of  the 
Christian  faith.  So  long  as  the  simpler  Arian  form  was 
taught,  missionaries  met  with  quick  response,  while  the 
missionaries  of  the  present  day  too  often  labor  in  vain. 
The  belief  in  the  Divine  Unity,  he  urges,  "  lies  at  the 
foundation  of  all  true  religion,"  and  is  "  congenial  to 
the  human  heart  and  understanding."  He  even  goes  so 
far  as  to  surmise  that  the  persistent  distinctness  of  the 
Jews  as  a  people  may  be  due  to  this  feature  of  their 
religion.  He  can  discover,  he  says,  no  other  cause  for 
this  persistence  than  their  belief  in  the  Divine  Unity. 
"  It  is  the  power  of  this  faith  which  has  hitherto  pre- 
served them,  and  served  to  them  as  a  bond  of  union  in 
their  dispersion  among  the  nations." 

It  is  difficult  for  any  of  us  to  realize  now  that  the 
questions  of  original  sin  and  election  were  serious  issues 
in  a  community,  social  issues  as  well  as  religious  issues ; 
and  that  those  denying  their  validity  were  abused,  vili- 
fied, and  ostracized.  But  as  a  matter  of  fact  Unitarians 
had  to  submit  to  the  most  uncharitable  criticism  while 
waiting  for  tune  and  their  good  works  to  vindicate  their 
right  to  exist  side  by  side  with  the  Orthodox  brethren. 

The  two  chapters  on  Original  Sin2  which  follow  the 
series  on  the  Unity  of  God  lead  to  the  summary  :  "  We 
have  thus  endeavored  to  show  that  the  doctrine  of  ori- 
ginal sin  is  not  taught  in  the  Scriptures :  that  it  is  con- 
trary to  reason  and  experience ;  and  that  its  influence 
is  decidedly  unfriendly  to  the  cause  of  piety,  of  virtue 
and  of  brotherly  love  ;  and  now  we  would  ask  the  reader 
seriously  to  consider  whether  the  Unitarian  is  to  be  cut 
off  from  Christian  fellowship  for  rejecting  this  dogma." 

1  Vol.  v.  p.  7.  2  Essayist,  vol.  i.  pp.  98  and  108. 


232  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

It  was  painful  to  him  even  to  consider  this  question 
of  original  sin ;  and  the  doctrine  of  election,  which  was 
the  subject  of  the  next  essay,1  was  equally  antipathetic. 
"  We  shall  endeavor  to  suppress  the  feelings  of  unmiti- 
gated horror  which  this  dogma  is  calculated  to  excite," 
he  wrote,  "  that  we  may  examine  it  with  that  calmness 
which  the  search  after  truth  demands ;  and  our  first 
inquiry  here  will  be:  ...  What  do  the  scriptures  of 
Almighty  God  teach  us  on  this  subject  ?  "  Of  course 
he  finds  that  they  do  not  teach  that  doctrine  at  all. 

It  is  the  same  with  the  doctrines  treated  of  in  the 
essay  on  the  "Particular  Redemption,  Effectual  Calling, 
and  Final  Perseverance  of  the  Saints."  2 

"  The  Unitarian,"  says  this  essay,  "  believes  that  God 
is  the  common  father  of  all.  That  it  is  not  His  will  that 
any  should  perish,  but  that  all  should  come  to  Him  and 
be  saved.  He  believes  that  all  are  called  to  happiness, 
and  that  it  is  in  the  power  of  every  one  to  become  happy 
by  trusting  in  God,  and  by  following  the  precepts  which 
our  blessed  Saviour  has  given  to  us,  and  the  example 
which  He  has  set  us.  He  believes  that,  according  to 
the  injunction  of  the  apostle  Paul,  every  one  must  work 
out  his  own  salvation  ;  and  he  knows  that  God  never 
requires  of  any  one  beyond  what  he  is  able  to  perform. 
He  does  not  believe  that  conversion  from  sin  to  holiness 
is  an  instantaneous  change,  worked  by  almighty  power 
in  man,  and  under  which  he  is  passive,  but  on  the  con- 
trary, that  though  the  resolution  to  return  to  God  and 
to  become  good  may  be  taken  in  a  moment,  yet  that  the 
work  of  conversion  itself  is  one  requiring  much  time  and 
labour.  .  .  .  He  must  wean  himself  from  the  sins  which 
have  acquired  dominion  over  him  ;  he  must  eradicate 

1  Essayist,  vol.  i.  p.  122.  *  Essayist,  vol.  i.  p.  134. 


THE  UNITARIAN  233 

the  evil  propensities  which  self-indulgence  has  created 
within  him;  he  must  purify  his  heart,  as  the  source 
whence  all  his  actions  spring,  from  every  guilty  and 
unhallowed  desire,  and  he  must  do  all  this  with  an 
humble  reliance  on  the  divine  assistance  and  blessing. 
And  when,  at  length,  ...  he  has  obtained  the  mastery 
over  himself,  .  .  .  still  his  warfare  is  not  finished.  He 
is  still  sensible  that  without  continued  watchfulness  he 
may  yet  return  to  his  former  habits,  and  be  lost ;  and 
that  to  be  safe,  he  must  persevere  unto  the  end." 

His  next  two  articles  deal  with  the  Atonement.1  The 
Scriptures  indicate,  he  points  out,  that  the  word  atone- 
ment is  used  in  the  New  Testament  for  reconciliation 
and  in  the  Old  Testament  in  the  old  Jewish  sense  of  a 
ceremonial  for  purification,  not  as  satisfaction  or  pay- 
ment to  avert  the  consequences  of  sin.  He  adds :  "  We 
would  state  that  the  original  Greek  word,  here 2  trans- 
lated atonement,  has  been  elsewhere  constantly  rendered 
reconciliation.  This,  too,  in  the  days  of  King  James, 
was  the  true  import  of  the  word  atonement,  it  being 
originally  derived  from  the  two  words  at  and  one  :  to 
be  at  one  signifying  to  be  at  peace,  or,  to  be  reconciled. 
Thus  we  read  in  Shakespeare's  Coriolanus,  — 

He  and  Aufidius  can  no  more  atone 
Than  violentest  contrariety. 

And  elsewhere  in  the  same  author  we  have,  — 

He  seeks  to  make  atonement 

Between  the  Duke  of  Gloucester  and  your  brothers." 

After  an  interesting  argument,  to  strengthen  which 
he  cites  many  texts,  he  says  in  review,  "  We  observed 
that  the  terms  satisfaction,  substitution,  vicarious  suf- 

1  Essayist,  vol.  i.  pp.  146,  169.  2  Romans  v.  11. 


234  HARM  JAN   HUIDEKOPER 

fering,  imputed  guilt,  imputed  righteousness,  and  other 
phrases  commonly  used  ...  to  express  the  high  orthodox 
doctrine  of  atonement,  are  not  found  in  the  Scriptures; 
and  we  endeavored  to  shew  that  the  term  atonement  as 
used  in  the  New  Testament  means  simply  reconciliation ; 
and  that  the  atonement  mentioned  in  the  Old  Testament 
was  a  rite  of  ceremonial  purification,  not  a  satisfaction 
made  to  Divine  Justice  for  moral  wrong.  If  we  have 
succeeded  in  proving  this,  ...  it  follows  that  the  pop- 
ular doctrine  of  atonement  is  not  the  doctrine  of  the 
Scriptures." 

He  then  continues :  — 

But,  it  may  be  asked,  if  this  doctrine  is  not  revealed 
in  the  scriptures,  how  does  it  happen  that  it  is  received 
by  so  large  a  portion  of  the  Christian  church,  and  that 
those  who  believe  in  it  think  that  they  find  it  so  clearly 
taught  there  ?  Now  the  reason  for  this  appears  to  us  to 
be  sufficiently  obvious.  From  the  dark  ages  there  have 
been  handed  down  to  us  a  number  of  dogmas,  the  off- 
spring of  the  systems  of  heathen  philosophy  of  those 
days.  These  have  been  adopted  by  most  of  the  Chris- 
tian churches,  and  after  being  in  various  ways  combined 
with  the  simple  truths  of  Christianity  have  been  formed 
into  regular  systems  of  theology.  It  is  these  systems 
which  constitute  the  chief  contents  of  our  modern  creeds 
and  catechisms  and  confessions  of  faith.  Although  the 
scriptures  are  not  favorable  to  these  dogmas,  thus 
adopted  into  Christianity,  as  not  one  of  them  is  expli- 
citly taught  in  the  word  of  God,  yet  it  is  supposed,  that 
we  find  passages  there,  which  give  support  to  some 
of  the  features  belonging  to  them ;  and  besides,  in  the 
creeds  and  confessions  of  faith,  scriptural  terms  are  fre- 
quently made  use  of  in  connexion  with  these  dogmas. 
That  these  scripture  terms,  however,  when  found  there, 
have  a  meaning  totally  different  from  that  which  they 


THE  UNITARIAN  235 

have  in  the  sacred  pages,  will  be  plainly  apparent  to 
every  one  on  the  slightest  investigation.  .  .  . 

But  the  opinion  which  has  most  generally  prevailed 
among  Unitarians  is :  That  the  death  of  Christ  is  in- 
strumental in  our  salvation  only  in  presenting  us  with 
motives  to  forsake  sin,  and  to  become  virtuous  and  holy ; 
and  that  the  only  way  in  which  it  saves  us,  is  by  mak- 
ing us  good.  .  .  .  That  death  set  the  seal  to  his  mis- 
sion, and  established  his  religion  in  the  world.  By  that 
religion  we  are  surrounded  with  motives  to  goodness, 
and  its  precepts  are  emphatically  what  a  truly  great  man 
of  the  present  age  has  called  them :  the  guide  to  hap- 
piness and  peace.1  .  .  .  Christ  is  the  messenger  of  the 
divine  mercy,  and  the  medium  of  the  divine  communi- 
cation to  mankind.  .  .  . 

We  have  thus  endeavored  ...  to  investigate  this  in- 
teresting subject,  and  our  examinations  have  presented 
us  with  two  schemes  totally  dissimilar  in  their  natures. 
The  one  represents  Christ,  the  second  person  in  the 
Trinity,  as  making  by  his  sufferings  and  death,  satis- 
faction to  the  offended  justice  of  the  Father,  the  first 
person  in  the  Trinity,  for  the  sins  of  mankind.  In  this 
scheme  the  person  who  makes  the  atonement,  the  victim 
by  which  that  atonement  is  made,  and  the  God  to  whom 
the  atonement  is  made,  are  all  one  and  the  same  Being. 
What  a  wonderful  confusion  of  ideas  this  presents  to 
us !  The  other  scheme  represents  Christ  as  the  Mes- 
senger of  God,  suffering  and  dying  to  establish  that  re- 
ligion by  means  of  which  man  was  to  be  re-called  to  the 
path  of  virtue,  which  leads  to  happiness  and  to  God. 
Which  of  the  two  schemes  is  most  in  unison  with  the 
plain  teachings  of  scripture,  and  with  the  essential  at- 
tributes of  the  Deity,  every  reader  must  decide  for 
himself. 

Upon  the  subject  of  eternal  punishment  Mr.  Huide- 
koper  writes  appealingly  in  the  essay  entitled  "  On  Ter- 

1  The  Brahmin,  Kammohun  Roy.  —  H.  J.  H.'s  note. 


236  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

ror  as  a  Principle  of  Moral  Action  :"  1  "As  you  value 
the  lasting  welfare  of  your  offspring,  oh !  do  keep  their 
minds  uncontaminated  by  those  degrading  ideas  of  the 
supreme  Being  which  they  would  inevitably  imbibe  from 
the  popular  catechisms  of  the  day.  Teach  them  to  know 
God  as  the  best  of  Beings,  the  kindest  of  Benefactors, 
a  Father  who  supplies  all  their  wants."  .  .  . 

This  essay,  however,  is  chiefly  directed  toward  the 
evils  of  terrorism  as  used  in  revivals.  Our  modern  ter- 
rorists, he  declares,  set  out  with  the  full  determination 
to  produce  an  excitement.  This  kind  of  preaching  is 
pleasing  to  the  multitude,  and  draws  crowded  audiences. 
The  love  of  excitement  seems  to  be  natural  to  man,  and 
the  multitude  will  always  flock  in  the  greatest  num- 
bers wherever  the  threatenings  against  them  are  most 
violent.  "Do  not  let  it  be  said  that  people  do  not  love 
to  be  disagreeably  affected.  We  have  only  to  go  to  the 
scene  of  a  public  execution  to  convince  ourselves  that 
the  multitude,  rather  than  miss  being  excited,  will  seek 
any  spectacle,  no  matter  how  horrible  it  may  be."  This 
kind  of  preaching  "enables  the  minister  to  operate 
powerfully  on  the  community,  and  to  produce  a  marked 
effect  .  .  .  Genuine  Christianity"  he  concludes,  "does 
not  stand  in  need  of  such  expedients." 

The  supernatural  powers  ascribed  to  Jesus  presented 
to  Mr.  Huidekoper  no  difficulty.  A  thorough  consis- 
tency ran  through  his  interpretation  of  the  mysteries  of 
the  universe,  so  far  as  he  attempted  to  explain  those 
mysteries  at  all.  In  the  operation  in  nature  of  what 
others  have  learned  to  call  law,  he  refused  to  recognize 
anything  different  from  the  direct  action  of  the  will  of 

1  Essayist,  vol.  ii.  p.  61. 


THE  UNITARIAN  237 

God,  sustaining,  continuing,  directing,  developing  inert 
matter  in  accordance  with  purposes  consciously  his  own. 
In  his  essay  on  Miracles,  printed  in  the  "  Western  Mes- 
senger," 1  he  asks :  — 

What  are  we  to  understand  by  the  laws  of  nature  ? 
According  to  the  prevailing  popular  opinion,  certain 
energies,  powers,  or  tendencies,  were,  at  the  creation,  in- 
fused into,  or  connected  with  our  globe  and  all  that  is 
upon  it,  by  means  of  which  everything  is  now  either  up- 
held and  preserved,  or  is  constantly  renewed  and  repro- 
duced, so  as  to  secure  a  permanent  existence  to  this 
world  and  all  that  belongs  to  it.  These  conservative 
powers  are  denominated  the  laws  of  nature.  .  .  .  But  if 
the  present  order  of  things  can  maintain  itself,  even  for  a 
moment,  by  its  own  power,  it  may  thus  have  maintained 
itself  during  the  time  that  is  past,  and  may  continue  so 
to  maintain  itself  forever.  To  a  system  which  thus  ren- 
ders the  world  independent  of  its  Maker  and  its  God  my 
mind  cannot  give  its  assent.  Reason,  nature,  and  reve- 
lation all  unite  in  teaching  that  God  alone  is  self-exist- 
ent and  that  everything  else  is  dependent.  .  .  .  Every 
organic  atom,  however  combined,  must  at  ah1  times  be 
the  special  object  of  God's  care. 

Matter  is  essentially  inert,  and  has  of  itself  no  active 
properties  or  powers.  The  occult  powers  which  we  call 
the  laws  of  nature,  are  not  inherent  in  matter.  They 
are  merely  the  varied  operations  of  the  Deity,  by  which 
the  universe  is  supported  and  by  which  every  thing  is 
upheld  or  renewed.  If  these  views  of  the  universal  de- 
pendence of  everything  on  God  be  correct,  it  follows 
that  the  birth  of  every  insect,  animal,  or  man,  is  now  as 
much  a  direct  act  of  creation  as  it  was  at  the  first ;  and 
that  the  sprouting  of  a  blade  of  grass,  of  a  leaf,  or  of 
the  humblest  plant,  is  as  much  the  effect  of  the  direct 
action  of  the  Deity,  is  as  miraculous  as  was  the  raising 

1  Vol.  v.  p.  290. 


238  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

of  Lazarus  from  the  dead.  All  the  difference  I  can  per- 
ceive between  them  is,  that  the  one  is  an  exertion  of 
divine  power,  frequently  repeated,  and  intended  to  an- 
swer a  common  purpose,  while  the  other  is  an  exertion 
of  divine  power,  very  rare  in  its  recurrence,  and  in- 
tended to  answer  a  special  purpose. 

It  is,  however,  in  the  essays  on  "  Man  and  his  Des- 
tiny "  printed  in  the  "  Essayist "  l  and  in  those  on  "  Fu- 
ture Retribution  "  published  in  the  "  Western  Messen- 
ger," 2  that  Mr.  Huidekoper  takes  an  individual  stand, 
and  gives  expression  to  ideas  peculiar  to  himself,  and, 
as  he  says  at  the  outset,  not  particularly  belonging  to 
Unitarians  as  a  body.3  These  ideas,  he  tells  us,  he  has 
arrived  at  after  a  careful  investigation,  but  he  asks  no 
one  to  accept  them  unless  he  finds  them  in  accordance 
with  reason  and  with  the  Scriptures. 

Man,  he  asserts,  in  the  "  Essayist,"  4  is  placed  on 
earth  to  enjoy  life  and  be  happy.  This  world  is  not  a 
vale  of  tears,  nor  is  human  life  merely  a  probationary 
scene ;  even  if  existence  were  limited  to  the  earthly 
years,  man  would  have  great  cause  for  gratitude  to  God. 
God  has  been  bountiful;  he  has  given  not  only  the 
physical  basis  for  happiness,  he  has  given  the  soul. 
What  the  soul  is,  we  cannot  know ;  the  Bible  does  not 
tell  us,  and  we  have  no  means  of  forming  a  definite 
conception  of  a  substance  not  material.  Most  persons 
consider  the  soul  imperishable,  —  but  if  God  has  called 
it  into  existence,  it  must  follow  that  that  existence  was 

1  Vol.  ii.  pp.  97, 113.  2  Vol.  vi.  pp.  203,  217,  301. 

8  Mr.  Huidekoper's  articles  "  On  Future  Retribution  "  in  the  Western 
Messenger  were  answered  by  T.  M.  in  the  same  periodical,  vol.  vii.  pp. 
241,  333,  as  well  as  by  Christopher  P.  Cranch,  vol.  vii.  p.  187,  who  en- 
titles his  reply, "  A  Word  on  the  Doctrine  of  Annihilation." 

4  Vol.  ii.  p.  98. 


THE  UNITARIAN  239 

dependent  on  God's  will,  and  that  the  soul  has  not  in 
itself  the  quality  of  imperishability.  He  believed  that 
the  soul  would  live  while  it  found  happiness  in  this  uni- 
verse, which  God  has  so  fashioned  that  happiness  and 
goodness  are  interdependent ;  should  a  time  come  when 
the  desire  for  a  life  in  accord  with  the  moral  trend  of 
the  universe  was  not  strong  enough  to  make  the  soul 
seek  the  only  happiness  possible  to  it,  then  extinction 
must  follow.  Meanwhile  life  is  undeniably  a  blessing, 
every  one  has  reason  to  be  thankful  for  its  benefits,  nor 
will  any  one  be  dismissed  from  existence  who  can  con- 
tinue to  use  the  means  of  happiness  provided  for  him.1 

"  I  do  not  like,"  he  said  in  the  "  Messenger,"  "  to 
enter  into  disquisitions  of  what  God  can  or  cannot  do. 
Such  matters  are  too  high  for  beings  so  limited  as  we 
are.  But  it  appears  to  me  to  follow  from  the  very  lim- 
ited ideas  which  we  have  of  God,  that  inherent  immor- 
tality, like  omnipresence  and  omniscience,  belongs  to 
his  incommunicable  attributes." 

The  doctrine  of  immediate  salvation,  held  by  those 
whom  he  called  "  Ultra-Universalists,"  seemed  to  him 
to  be  "  incompatible  with  the  idea  of  a  righteous  retri- 
bution." He  says,  moreover :  — 

The  doctrine  of  the  ultimate  restoration  of  all  man- 
kind is  one  which  recommends  itself  to  our  better  feel- 
ings, and  all  must  wish  it  to  be  true.  But  I  am  afraid  we 

1  His  conviction  regarding  the  future  life,  or  this  life,  indeed,  is  further 
emphasized  in  the  short  paper  on  "  Being  and  Immortality  "  in  the  West- 
ern Messenger  (vol.  iii.  p.  526)  :  "  It  follows  .  .  .  that  in  every  creature 
—  in  the  highest  seraph  as  in  the  worm  of  the  dust  —  in  the  human  soul 
as  in  the  human  body  —  there  must  be  a  constant  tendency  to  return  to 
that  state  of  non-existence  from  which  they  were  called  into  being,  and 
that  were  the  supporting  power  of  God  only  intermitted  for  one  moment 
they  would  cease  to  be." 


240  HARM  JAN   HUIDEKOPER 

have  no  sufficient  evidence  on  which  to  found  it.  ... 
The  doctrine  is  nowhere  expressly  stated  in  the  Scrip- 
tures. It  is  avowedly  one  of  inferences.  .  .  .  The  uni- 
versal restoration  of  mankind  is  also  inferred  from  the 
progressive  powers  of  man.  .  .  .  But  I  doubt  whether 
we  can  logically  infer  from  the  general  existence  of  these 
capacities,  that  they  must  necessarily,  in  every  instance, 
receive  all  the  development  of  which  they  are  susceptible. 
It  appears  to  me  that  such  an  influence  is  not  in  accord- 
ance with  what  we  see  of  the  Divine  agency  in  other 
matters. 

Thus,  for  instance,  if  in  our  Western  woods,  a  few 
trees  are  felled,  hundreds  of  young  trees  immediately 
spring  up  to  replace  them.  Now  in  this  case,  every  one 
of  these  young  trees  possesses  the  capacity  of  becoming  a 
large  full-grown  tree ;  and  yet  it  is  evidently  not  God's 
intention  that  it  should  become  so.  The  very  proximity 
to  each  other  in  which  they  are  placed  at  first,  renders 
this  impossible.  Most  of  these  young  trees  must  perish 
early,  and  yet  their  existence  is  not  useless.  It  tends  to 
give  to  the  trees  that  survive,  an  upward  tendency,  and 
a  degree  of  development,  which  they  could  not  other- 
wise have  attained  to.  We  see  thus,  that  it  is  not  a  prin- 
ciple of  the  Divine  government,  that,  in  every  case,  every 
power  and  capacity  should  receive  the  highest  possible 
degree  of  development  of  which  it  is  capable. 

The  only  retribution  taught  by  the  Scriptures,  he 
maintained,  was  the  possibility  of  extinction  ;  and  in 
support  of  this  he  emphasized  the  fact  that  the  Greek 
word  Hades,  the  grave,  and  the  Hebrew  Gehenna,  place 
of  destruction,  translated  by  the  English  word  hell, 
should  not  be  understood  as  meaning  a  place  where  life 
is  continued  in  pain,  but  one  involving  the  cessation  of 
life,  Gehenna  being  derived  from  Ghe-Hinnom,  a  bury- 
ing ground  in  a  valley  near  Jerusalem,  where  also  the 


THE  UNITARIAN  241 

refuse  of  the  city  was  thrown  to  be  destroyed  by  decay 
and  fire.  Hence,  in  the  hyperbolic  language  of  the  East, 
"  there  the  worm  died  not,  nor  was  the  fire  ever  quenched, 
but  the  process  of  destruction  was  constantly  going  on 
till  all  was  consumed.  .  .  .  Gehenna  was  the  emblem, 
not  of  suffering,  but  of  destruction." 

The  idea  of  torture  after  death,  he  goes  on  to  say, 
still  in  the  "Messenger,"  already  familiar  in  the  myth- 
ical fires  of  Tartarus,  became  transferred  to  the  biblical 
term  hell-fire,  and  "  thus  the  doctrine  of  penal  suffering 
after  death  was  introduced  into  Christianity."  But  de- 
struction, not  torture,  the  second  death,  not  an  eternity 
of  agony,  are  set  forth  in  the  Bible.  We  read,  he  says, 
of  being  destroyed  in  hell,  but  never  of  the  sufferings 
or  torments  of  hell. 

Then,  if  we  again  take  up  the  "  Essayist " :  "  The 
Apostle  says  that  the  wages  of  sin  is  death.  Here  it  is 
obvious  that  by  the  word  death,  the  Apostle  cannot 
mean  that  separation  of  the  soul  and  body  which  com- 
monly goes  by  this  name.  That  death  is  common  to  us 
all ;  to  the  virtuous  as  well  as  to  the  vicious ;  to  the 
infant  that  never  knew  sin,  and  to  the  hoary  headed 
transgressor  who  has  grown  gray  in  iniquity.  By  the 
term  death  he  must  mean  that  destruction  of  being 
which  awaits  the  wicked  at  the  end  of  their  course." 

The  idea  of  the  extinction  of  the  wicked  as  a  sub- 
stitute for  eternal  punishment  was  a  natural  outcome  of 
Mr.  Huidekoper's  tenderness  of  heart,  which  could  not 
contemplate  calmly  the  idea  of  eternal  suffering  for  any 
soul.  No  one  can  deny  that  extinction  might  make  a 
good  preaching  doctrine  for  Unitarians,  well  calculated 
to  bring  the  sinner  to  repentance,  and  furnishing  the 
Unitarian  pastor  with  a  much  needed  means  of  reclaim- 


242  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

ing  the  backslider.  Indeed,  in  a  letter  to  James  Free- 
man Clarke  (April  17,  1838),  Mr.  Huidekoper  made  a 
suggestion  to  this  effect :  — 

You  say  .  .  .  that  we  want  above  everything  a  system 
of  practical  theology;  and  you  complain  of  the  desul- 
tory mode  of  preaching  which  we  so  often  meet  with, 
and  wish  for  something  more  definite.  In  all  this  I  fully 
coincide  with  you.  In  reading  the  life  of  the  late  Dr. 
Parker,  I  was  struck  with  the  remark,  that  whatever 
might  be  the  subject  of  his  discourses,  he  always 
brought  in  the  doctrine  of  repentance  or  reformation. 
This  was  the  great  central  doctrine  or  point  to  which 
all  his  preaching  tended.  He  thus  gave  unity  of  design 
to  all  his  labours,  and  the  state  of  his  church  showed 
how  eminently  successful  these  labours  had  been.  But 
even  this  alone  appears  to  me  to  be  not  enough,  unless 
you  can  also  lay  before  your  audience,  at  the  same 
time,  a  sufficient  motive,  why  they  should  repent  or  be 
converted ;  and,  if  I  mistake  not,  it  is  here  that  the 
deficiency  of  our  system,  as  commonly  held,  is  to  be 
looked  for.  The  orthodox  threaten  the  sinner  with  an 
eternity  of  torments  in  hell,  unless  he  does  repent,  and 
you  acknowledge  the  efficacy  of  this  mode  of  preach- 
ing. But  you  cannot  adopt  it,  because  you  do  not 
believe  that  our  Heavenly  Father  would  continue  man 
in  being  for  the  mere  purpose  of  tormenting  him  ;  and 
yet  you  have  no  substitute  for  it  which  is  equally  effi- 
cacious. If  you  tell  the  sinner  that  sin  and  misery  are 
unalterably  connected,  he  does  not  believe  you.  He 
feels  that  the  enjoyments  of  sense  give  him  pleasurable 
sensations,  and  on  that  account  he  gives  himself  up 
to  them.  If  you  speak  to  him  of  the  pleasures  of  Virtue 
and  of  the  joys  of  Heaven,  he  can  neither  appreciate 
the  one  nor  the  other.  His  moral  sentiment  is  not  suf- 
ficiently developed  to  appreciate  moral  enjoyments.  If 
you  speak  to  him  of  the  goodness  and  love  of  God, 
these  he  can  to  a  certain  extent  appreciate,  but  then 


THE  UNITARIAN  243 

his  belief  in  them  produces  an  effect  directly  the  reverse 
of  what  you  had  intended.  He  believes  that  his  Soul  is 
immortal  and  that  he  is  to  live  forever.  He  believes 
also  that  God  is  good  and  loves  him,  and,  combining 
these  two  beliefs,  he  lives  on  carelessly,  trusting  that 
eventually  all  will  be  well. 

Such  are  some  of  the  difficulties  under  which  the  Min- 
istry labours,  for  want  of  being  able  to  present  to  the 
mind  of  the  Sinner  motives  sufficiently  powerful  to 
induce  him  to  reform.  If  I  am  not  mistaken,  much 
of  this  want  of  effectiveness  in  our  system  has  its  ori- 
gin in  the  generally  received  opinion  with  respect  to 
the  immortality  of  the  Soul.  Once  lay  down  as  an 
axiom,  that  the  soul  of  man  possesses  an  essential  in- 
herent immortality,  and  that  all  mankind  are  to  live 
forever,  and  this  axiom  will  lead  us  either  to  the  belief 
in  eternal  punishment,  or  to  a  Universalism  more  or 
less  modified.  But  if  (as  I  believe  reason  and  revela- 
tion unite  in  teaching)  you  convince  the  sinner  that 
God  alone  is  immortal :  —  that  whatever  is  created, 
whether  it  be  Spirit  or  matter,  has  a  constant  and 
inherent  tendency  to  destruction,  and  is  only  kept  in 
existence  by  the  supporting  power  of  God  constantly 
exercised,  you  will  make  him  feel  his  dependence  on 
God;  and  if  you  convince  him  further,  that  eternal 
life,  instead  of  being  an  inherent  quality,  is  the  gift  of 
God,  promised  to  be  given  to  those  (and  to  those  only) 
who  by  a  continuance  in  well  doing  will  qualify  them- 
selves for  its  enjoyment,  you  then,  at  once,  obtain  a 
powerful  hold  on  the  Sinner,  by  appealing  to  the 
strongest  natural  propensity  implanted  in  him  by  his 
Maker,  namely,  the  love  of  life.  I  have  dwelt  thus 
long  on  this  subject  because  I  deem  it  an  important 
one.  I  was  led  to  this  train  of  thinking  by  the  con- 
tents of  your  letter,  and  I  send  you  a  couple  of  num- 
bers of  the  "  Essayist,"  in  which  you  will  find  my  views 
somewhat  more  developed. 


244  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

Most  touchingly  characteristic  of  the  outgoing, 
warmly  beneficent  nature  of  the  writer,  and  of  his  ha- 
bitual practice,  is  the  paragraph  which  brings  his  confi- 
dences —  for  the  sentences  in  the  essay  "  On  Man  and 
his  Destiny  "  are  pervaded  by  a  personal  tone  that  makes 
them  like  private  utterances  for  the  understanding  ear 
alone  —  to  a  close.  "  Should  any  one  ask  us  concerning 
the  joys  of  Heaven,"  he  concludes,  "  we  will  tell  him 
how  he  may,  even  here  below,  have  a  faint  foretaste  of 
them.  Let  him,  when  no  eye  but  that  of  God  sees  him, 
go  to  the  abode  of  the  unfortunate.  Let  him  relieve 
their  wants,  console  them  under  their  afflictions,  and 
speak  peace  to  their  wounded  spirits.  And  then,  when 
their  hearts  open  again  to  happiness,  .  .  .  then  let  him, 
for  a  moment,  cast  a  glance  at  his  own  heart.  That 
which  he  then  feels,  that  is  moral  felicity,  —  that  is 
Heaven." 


CHAPTER  VII 

WITH  THE  YOUNG  HOUSEHOLD  AT  POMONA 

THE  new  intellectual  life  brought  to  the  Pennsylvania 
interior  by  Mr.  Huidekoper  himself  and  by  the  minis- 
ters and  tutors,  fresh  from  their  Eastern  colleges,  whom 
he  drew  thither,  did  much  toward  making  Meadville  a 
centre  of  culture.  Nor  were  the  experiences  of  entering 
into  frontier  life,  and  of  sharing  the  spiritual  impetus 
which  was  felt  by  every  one  who  came  in  contact  with 
Mr.  Huidekoper,  lost  upon  these  young  men  who  threw 
themselves  into  the  interests  of  the  responsive  commu- 
nity, and  of  the  energetic  household  at  Pomona.  The 
journey  alone,  with  its  passage  of  the  mountains,  its 
day  after  day  of  pushing  forward  through  the  unbroken 
forest,  its  mornings  and  evenings  of  ineffable  beauty, 
was  an  appeal  to  the  perception  of  the  poet,  to  the  imagi- 
nation of  the  mystic.  Each  newcomer  gathered  to  him- 
self a  part  of  the  novel  elements  which  formed  Mr. 
Huidekoper's  environment,  and  carried  back  to  his  ma- 
turer  work  the  fruits  of  his  sojourn  in  the  West.1 

1  Ephraim  Peabody's  Phi  Beta  Kappa  poem,  New  England  Emigration 
Westward,  delivered  in  1835,  pictures  the  Western  world  from  which  he 
then  had  come,  and,  still  more,  that  which  Mr.  Huidekoper  had  found 
upon  his  first  entrance  into  western  Pennsylvania.  The  poem  was  printed 
in  the  first  volume  of  the  Western  Messenger,  and  contains  these  lines  :  — 

Dawn  on  the  mountains !  Gloriously  the  morn 
Purples  along  the  east.  The  stars  are  shorn 
And  struggle  forward  with  thin  rays  and  white, 


246  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

They  were  a  notable  band,  these  instructors  and  min- 
isters who  taught  in  the  schoolroom  in  the  north  wing 
of  Pomona  Hall,  or  preached  to  the  Unitarians  of  the 
town.  John  Mudge  Merrick,  Andrew  Preston  Peabody, 
Washington  Gilbert,  Ephraim  Peabody,  George  Nichols, 
Alanson  Brigham,  and  John  Sullivan  D wight  were  the 
tutors.  Add  to  these  William  Henry  Channing,  John 
Quinby  Day,  Henry  Emmons,  James  Freeman  Clarke, 
Elihu  Goodwin  Holland,  and  Ruf  us  Phineas  Stebbins, 
all  of  whom  filled  the  pulpit  for  a  longer  or  shorter 
period  during  Mr.  Huidekoper's  lifetime,  and  the  list 
becomes  representative  of  the  active  Unitarian  thinkers 
and  workers  of  that  day. 

When  Mr.  Merrick,  the  first  of  the  tutors,  arrived, 
Frederic,  the  youngest  son,  was  not  quite  eight  years 
old ;  Anna  was  about  eleven,  Edgar  less  than  fourteen, 
Alfred  between  fifteen  and  sixteen  ;  while  Elizabeth 
was  a  child  of  six.1 

Then  fade  and  vanish  in  the  advancing  light. 

O'er  the  far  forest-line  the  herald  beams 

Of  morning  upward  blaze  in  rushing  streams. 

And  the  imperial  sun,  as  he  ascends, 

His  sceptred  rays  extends 

To  the  far  summits  that  to  heaven  aspire, 

And  at  the  touch  they  glow  with  heaven's  own  fire. 

And  these  lines  on  the  emigrant  tide  from  the  east:  — 

But  then,  like  waves  across  a  dyke's  sharp  edge. 
They  broke  above  the  Allegheny's  ridge, 
And  every  pass  that  seams  their  lengthening  crest 
Poured  its  vast  surge  of  life  into  the  West. 

1  To  meet  the  demands  of  the  growing  household,  the  capacity  of  the 
house  had  been  enlarged  by  a  brick  addition,  built  in  1819.  This  addition 
was  put  up  in  the  rear  of  the  main  building  and  was  connected  with  it  by 
a  wide,  cool  passage,  which  in  summer  could  be  used  as  a  dining-room. 
The  addition  itself  contained  kitchen  and  wash-house,  and  a  store-room, 
and  chambers  above  for  the  servants.  Moreover  an  office  building  of  two 
rooms,  also  built  in  1819,  thirty  feet  north  of  the  house,  made  it  possible 
to  devote  the  north  wing  to  school  purposes. 


r 

O  > 

§1 


WITH  THE  YOUNG  HOUSEHOLD  AT  POMONA      247 

The  different  impressions  made  upon  Frederic  by 
these  men  of  strong  individuality  —  and  it  was  for  him, 
chiefly,  that  the  list  grew  to  be  such  a  long  one  — 
stand  recorded  in  a  fragmentary  "Autobiography,"  writ- 
ten for  his  children  in  the  leisure  of  his  later  life.  Of 
Mr.  Merrick  and  Mr.  Gilbert  his  recollections  are  not 
particularly  distinct.  Of  Andrew  Preston  Peabody, 
however,  they  are  quite  clear.  The  familiar  figure  is 
all  the  more  endeared  to  our  memory  by  the  comment, 
"A.  P.  Peabody  was  so  peculiar,  and  in  some  respects 
so  awkward,  that  no  one  could  well  help  recollecting 
his  movements,  if  not  his  instructions."  Frederic  adds, 
"  He  was,  moreover,  a  copious  reader,  and,  at  the  age 
of  seventeen,  at  which  age  he  was  our  teacher,  had  read 
more  than  most  persons  at  twice  that  age." 

With  Ephraim  Peabody  came  a  strong  reinforcement 
of  young  and  devoted  energy  and  enthusiasm.  Frederic, 
then  at  boyhood's  most  impressionable  age,  responded 
to  it  quickly,  and  kept  the  remembrance  of  it  through 
ah1  his  years.  "  His  personal  influence  over  me,"  he 
says,  "  was,  because  of  his  beautiful  character,  more 
than  that  of  any  other  among  them.  I  can  remember, 
moreover,  with  pleasure,  when  I  gave  him  a  copy  of  my 
( Underworld  Mission,'  his  gentle  request,  ( Frederic, 
won't  you  write  your  name  in  it  ?  ' 

To  Alfred  and  Edgar,  also,  Mr.  Peabody  was  a  com- 
panion and  friend.  They  had  already  begun  to  share 
their  father's  increasing  labors,  which  were  eventually 
to  rest  upon  their  shoulders,  but  business  cares  and 
hours  did  not  press  heavily  in  that  happy  valley.  The 
young  men  were  the  life  of  a  gay  circle  into  which 
Anna  Huidekoper  and  Margaret  Hazlett,  charming 
and  attractive  young  girls,  were  stepping,  and  which 


248  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

included  the  young  people  of  the  Shippen  and  Cullum 
families  and  others  less  connected  with  our  narrative. 
Mr.  Peabody's  adaptability  made  him  equally  desired 
and  beloved  of  old  and  young,  and  while  he  could 
spend  hours  walking  up  and  down  the  Pomona  piazza, 
"  talking  Unitarianism  with  Mr.  Huidekoper,"  he  was 
no  less  a  congenial  companion  to  Elizabeth,  in  her 
teens. 

Take  them  all  together,  —  the  quiet,  efficient,  ten- 
derly loved  mother,  the  father  retaining  the  best  of  the 
old  world  culture  quickened  by  the  activity  of  the  new, 
the  ever  helpful  aunts,  the  group  of  young  people  sur- 
rounding these  strong  central  figures,  ardent,  joyous 
spirits  alive  to  the  finest  influences  of  the  hour,  touched 
by  the  first  far-thrown  rays  of  nineteenth  century  ideal- 
ism, but  not  made  too  transparent  by  them,  devoted  to 
their  elders  and  to  their  church,  ready  in  good  works, 
generous  in  friendships,  fond  of  nature,  appreciative  of 
books,  —  they  made  up  a  household  to  be  one  of  which 
was  indeed  a  liberal  education. 

Nor  were  they  ever  at  a  loss  for  entertainment  at 
Pomona.  First  and  foremost  among  the  recreations  of 
the  masculine  portion  of  the  household  was  the  autumn 
shooting.  Mr.  Huidekoper  loved  to  range  the  fields 
with  dog  and  gun,  and  his  sons  had  learned  from  him 
to  be  good  marksmen.  Mr.  Peabody  was  speedily  in- 
troduced to  the  sport,  and  his  enjoyment  of  the  shoot- 
ing is  fairly  contagious.  The  spirit  of  a  September 
morning,  when  the  Huidekopers  gave  themselves  up  to 
roaming  through  woods  and  meadows  of  the  old  Indian 
hunting  grounds,  could  not  be  better  imparted  than  by 
this  passage  taken  from  one  of  his  letters : 

[September  27,  1830.]    "  I  have  fine  health.    I  take 


WITH  THE  YOUNG  HOUSEHOLD  AT  POMONA      249 

more  exercise  than  ever  I  did  before  in  my  life,  —  five 
times  as  much.  I  go  a  shooting  almost  every  day  and 
carry  a  gun  round  mile  after  mile.  I  am  getting  to  be 
so  expert  a  shot  that  I  begin  to  grow  sick  of  shooting 
at  any  thing  except  it  be  on  the  wing.  Let  me  see  — 
how  many  kinds  of  birds  have  I  shot  flying  ?  of  hawks, 
crows,  pigeons,  quails,  woodcock.  Woodcock  shooting 
is  capital;  they  are  hardly  ever  shot  except  on  the  wing, 
and  it  is  hard  shooting  them.  I  bagged  two  yesterday. 
We  have  good  dogs,  pointers  or  setters,  and  good 
guns.  We  sally  out  into  the  cornfields  —  Hie  away 
Basto  —  hie  away  Cora — Carlo  —  hie  away — hie  away. 
Hist  —  Cora  is  setting.  Draw  up  slow  —  gun  cocked 
—  finger  on  the  trigger.  All  ready?  Move  on  — 
slowly.  Up  jumps  the  woodcock  —  away  he  whirs  swift 
as  lightning.  Crack  go  the  guns  —  hurra  —  I  brought 
him.  Hie  away  Cora  —  Carlo  —  find  him  —  here  he  is. 
Good  fellow  Cora — good  fellow  Carlo — you  set  finely. 
Good  fellows  —  hie  away  again.  Oh,  't  is  magnifi- 
cent." 

In  still  earlier  times  turkeys  had  abounded.  One  im- 
mense wild  gobbler  was  domesticated  at  Pomona  and 
lorded  it  over  the  poultry  yard  until  he  wandered  from 
its  safe  precincts,  and  was  shot  in  the  woods.  The  cry 
of  the  turkeys  and  the  drumming  of  the  pheasants  en- 
livened the  forest,  while  pigeons  in  autumn  and  spring 
darkened  the  air  with  their  flight. 

Larger  game  than  turkeys,  pigeons,  quail,  and  wood- 
cock was  often  to  be  seen.  September  was  apt  to  bring 
out  the  few  bears  in  the  vicinity.  Occasionally  the  ap- 
pearance of  one  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  town  would 
be  reported,  and  then  "  every  man  and  boy  who  could 
raise  a  gun  set  out  to  chastise  him,"  and  the  hunt  would 


250  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

be  carried  on  perhaps  all  day.  "  On  horseback  and  on 
foot,  with  dogs  and  without  them,  all  started  in  pur- 
suit;  "  thus  Anna  Huidekoper  described  for  Frederic  a 
particular  hunt  which  took  place  in  1834.  "  The  poor 
animal,"  she  continued,  "  who  no  doubt  had  never  been 
bedevilled  with  such  a  rumpus  at  his  heels  before,  not 
knowing  what  to  make  of  it,  got  up  into  a  tree  in  one 
of  Van  Horn's  fields  to  make  observations  and  recon- 
noiter  the  opposite  forces ;  "  and  of  course  that  was  the 
end  of  the  "  invader  of  the  peaceful  soil  and  unresisting 
cornfields."  * 

Even  fifty-nine  years  afterwards  the  memories  of  Po- 
mona had  not  lost  their  fragrance  for  the  sender  of  that 
letter.  On  April  28,  1889,  she  wrote  to  her  sister : 
"  Those  lovely  autumn  days  when  father  would  come 
to  the  door  of  our  schoolroom  and  say,  '  Oh,  come, 
dears !  shut  up  your  books ;  this  is  too  pleasant  a  day 
to  be  spent  indoors  —  let  us  go  off  nutting  ! '  We  would 
have  a  12  o'clock  dinner,  and  the  whole  family  would 
go  off  —  some  in  the  big  carriage,  others  on  horseback, 
two  perhaps  in  the  chaise  (gig  we  called  it),  and  we 
would  ramble  about  all  the  afternoon,  gathering  hazel- 
nuts,  eating  peaches  at  Mrs.  Elson's,  the  gentlemen  of 
the  party  perhaps  using  their  guns.  A  breath  of  those 
autumn  woods  often  comes  to  me  even  now." 

The  young  people,  fond  of  both  walking  and  riding, 
had  places  of  resort  in  all  the  country  round.  An  espe- 
cial favorite  was  "  the  Rocks."  Here  were  journeys' 
endings  and  basket  picnickings  in  abundance,  before  the 

1  As  for  the  squirrels,  gray,  black,  and  red,  they  became  at  intervals  a 
veritable  pest  in  the  farmer's  woods,  necessitating  a  concerted  onslaught. 
This  was  made  an  occasion  of  festivity  with  a  barbecue  at  the  end,  in 
which  the  whole  village  joined. 


WITH  THE  YOUNG  HOUSEHOLD  AT  POMONA      251 

vandal  days  when  the  glen  was  invaded  by  the  stone- 
cutters. 

In  winter  sleighing  parties  were  popular.  Pomona 
would  be  the  rendezvous  for  a  half  dozen  or  more 
sleighs  with  their  eager  horses,  jingling  bells,  fur  robes, 
and  loads  of  rosy-cheeked  girls  and  boys.  At  the  other 
end  of  the  route,  perhaps  at  some  country  inn,  a  dance 
would  be  improvised,  and  after  that  was  over  the  party 
would  sing  its  way  homeward  over  the  moonlit  roads. 
"  We  had  a  delightful  party  at  Conneaut  Lake  last 
Tuesday  afternoon,"  Anna  wrote  to  Frederic  in  February, 
1835.  "  Went  out  after  dinner,  took  tea  and  returned 
by  moonlight.  Between  Miss  Wallace  and  Lieutenant 
Hurst  we  had  some  delightful  music  in  our  sleigh  in 
returning,  among  other  pieces  (  The  Phantom  Ship '  — 
have  you  heard  it  ?  " 

Indoor  gatherings  also  were  frequent  and  informal. 
Either  at  Pomona  or  at  some  other  hospitable  house  the 
young  folks  would  assemble  for  singing,  dancing,  and 
games ;  or,  if  the  occasion  were  one  of  Miss  Shippen's 
"  soirees  "  or  if  the  company  contained  a  goodly  sprin- 
kling of  the  serious-minded,  for  conversation.  "  Miss 
Wallace  gave  a  young  party  last  Tuesday  evening," 
said  Anna  again,1  "  at  which  Cousin  M.  and  myself  re- 
presented Pomona  Hall :  quite  a  new  thing  for  that  ven- 
erable mansion,  whose  delegation  generally  consists  of 
some  eight  or  ten.  We  spent  a  delightful  evening,  but 
we  missed  our  absent  friends  much.  Mr.  Ruter  was 
there  in  tolerable  spirits,  discussing  as  usual  every  author 
and  every  production  which  has  ever  been  read  or  heard 
of,  not  even  excepting  '  my  favorite  Goethe '  and  the 
'  Sorrows  of  Werther.'  He  talked  a  good  deal  about 

1  Letter  of  August  31, 1834. 


252  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPEB 

you  and  also  about  his  '  good  friend  Mr.  Dwight '  for 
whose  intellectual  conversation  I  suppose  he  often 
wishes.  Mr.  Boyer  says  he  *  likes  my  brother  Frederic, 
he  is  so  full  of  youth.'  '  Another  of  Anna's  letters 
(March  4,  1835)  says :  "  We  had  a  little  tea-party  on 
Monday  evening  at  Mrs.  Shippen's  at  which  we  per- 
formed various  feats,  such  as  settling  amicably  the  dis- 
pute between  France  and  the  United  States,  or  rather, 
between  France  and  General  Jackson  ;  and  Professor 
Ruter  annihilated  the  Isthmus  of  Darien  by  a  process 
which  (Alfred  observed)  would  only  require  three  thou- 
sand years  to  be  effectual." 

From  visits  to  Pittsburg  or  to  Philadelphia  the  girls 
always  came  back  with  satisfaction  to  Pomona  Hall. 
"  Pray  don't  tell  Mr.  Norton  any  tough  stories  about 
our  not  very  celebrated  little  counties  out  West  here,  or 
he  may  doubt  when  you  talk  about  our  darling  little 
Meadville,  which  you  know  needs  no  embellishing  to 
make  it  a  little  paradise,"  Anna  cautioned  her  brother. 

But  the  greatest  happiness  of  young  and  old  came 
from  the  sympathetic  relations  maintained  in  the  large 
and  composite  family.  Always  watchful  to  provide 
abundant  variety  for  his  children,  and  sharing  many  of 
their  sports,  Mr.  Huidekoper  also  knew  how  to  make 
for  them  even  out  of  his  business  engagements  a  holi- 
day. His  companionship  alone  could  lend  interest  to  a 
journey,  and  while  his  sons,  Alfred  and  Edgar,  were 
usually  the  ones  to  travel  with  him,  his  wife  or  his 
daughters  or  Margaret  Hazlett  often  shared  the  change 
of  air  and  scene.  "  We  spent  about  a  week  endeavoring 
to  obtain  our  semi-annual  harvest,"  Alfred  wrote,1  "  but 
the  crop  was  rather  a  slim  one.  We  had,  however,  some 

1  To  liis  brother  Frederic,  January  14,  1835. 


WITH  THE  YOUNG  HOUSEHOLD  AT  POMONA      253 

delightful  sleighing,  the  snow  being  about  a  foot  deep 
and  the  weather  beautifully  clear,  although  the  nights 
were  extremely  cold,  the  thermometer  sometimes  stand- 
ing 17°  below  zero.  The  forest  scenery  for  several 
mornings  was  incomparably  fine,  the  trees  feathered 
with  light  frost-work,  and  in  some  places  festooned  with 
grape-vines  covered  with  snow.  The  ringing  echoes  of 
the  bells  among  the  hills,  the  morning  sun  breaking 
forth  in  all  its  brightness  upon  this  fairy  world,  and  the 
wildness  of  the  scenery  (for  we  frequently  went  from  five 
to  six  miles  without  [passing]  any  settlement)  altogether 
made  some  of  our  morning  drives  quite  poetical." 
And  again,  on  March  27,  1835,  to  his  sister  Anna : 

Our  journey  was  commenced,  as  your  ladyship  knows, 
to-day  at  twelve  o'clock  M.,  my  father  and  myself 
being  the  sole  occupants  of  the  stage,  and  our  Jehu  and 
another  fellow  passenger  being  jointly  possessed  of  the 
driver's  box.  Our  roads  were  rather  soft,  being  some- 
what like  the  western  territory,  not  yet  settled.  Our 
driver  decidedly  a  clever  fellow,  who  whistled,  chir- 
ruped, and  shouted  at  his  nags,  by  all  which  devices 
and  expedients  he  succeeded  in  chasing,  to  use  his  own 
professional  technology,  his  horses  along  at  the  rate  of 
some  three  miles  per  hour. 

The  first  eighteen  miles  my  father  and  self  got  over 
by  discussing  matters  and  things  connected  with  roads, 
canals,  railroads,  hotels,  etc.,  and  in  making  and  un- 
making future  arrangements,  a  kind  of  appendix  to  our 
employment  at  home  for  the  last  three  or  four  weeks. 
By  the  time  we  had  got  through  this,  our  fellow  pas- 
senger, whose  democracy  could  not  keep  him  warm,  va- 
cated the  driver's  seat,  and  got  into  the  coach,  when  my 
father  commenced  making  his  acquaintance  as  follows  : 
"  I  see  the  pigeons  are  beginning  to  come,  sir."  An- 
swer :  "  Yes  sir,  I  see  several."  Qun.  "  Where  do  you 


254  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPEK 

reside,  sir  ?  "  Ans.  "  Nowhere,  sir,  I  am  just  going  to 
Jefferson  County,  Missouri,  there  's  a  great  chance  for 
speculation  there  now,  sir.  It  is  a  small  place  and  has 
just  been  made  the  seat  of  government."  Qun.  "  Did 
you  come  from  New  York  ?  "  Ans.  "  No  sir,  from  Har- 
risburg  —  I  've  been  spending  a  week  making  sugar 
near  Mr.  Cooler  —  perhaps  you  know  him  ;  his  wife  is 
heir  to  the  Holland  Land  Company."  After  some  ques- 
tions, Mr.  Cooler  was  transposed  from  Cooler,  Keeler, 
Culler,  Koehler,  into  Mr.  F.  W.  Koehler ;  but  as  to  his 
wife  being  heir  to  the  Holland  Land  Company,  I  would 
like  to  see  the  family  record  for  that. 

When  in  1831  Mr.  Ephraim  Peabody  left  Pomona, 
George  Nichols  came  to  take  his  place. 

"  The  most  laboriously  faithful  in  preparing  me  for 
college,"  Frederic  wrote,  "  was  George  Nichols,  after- 
wards librarian  at  Harvard ;  no  one  could  be  more 
assiduous  in  his  efforts."  The  same  uncompromising 
faithfulness  applied  to  Elizabeth's  lessons  resulted  in  a 
curriculum  which  would  appall  the  modern  thirteen- 
year-old  child.  Elizabeth  accepted  her  "  Dictionary  " 
and  other  studies  without  a  complaint,  but  the  bare 
enumeration  of  them  in  a  letter  written  by  her  to  Mr. 
Peabody  after  his  final  departure  from  Meadville,  when 
Mr.  Nichols  had  entered  upon  the  charge  of  the  school- 
room, is  eloquent.  She  begins  [October  9,  1831],  "  My 
dear  Friend :  Thy  kind  letter  I  received  some  weeks 
since.  I  should  like  very  much  to  see  Cincinnati  and 
all  those  places  which  you  mentioned,  but  if  Edgar 
goes,  I  shall  hear  so  much  about  it  that  I  will  be  con- 
tented without  seeing  it  for  a  great  many  years,  if  ever. 
Basto  the  reverend  and  Ponto  the  jumper  are  very 
well ;  Ponto  has  never  been  down  here  since  you  went 
away.  Diep  the  fat  was  given  away.  Cora  the  meek  and 


WITH  THE  YOUNG  HOUSEHOLD  AT  POMONA      255 

Carlo  the  magnificent  have  entirely  recovered  from  the 
distemper  j  we  thought  that  neither  of  them  would  re- 
cover. Puss  feels  much  offended  that  when  inquiring 
for  your  old  acquaintances  here  you  should  not  care 
whether  he  were  yet  alive  or  no.  Carlo  would  be  very 
glad  to  get  you  back  again,  so  that  he  would  get  per- 
mission to  lie  before  the  fire,  especially  if  he  brought  a 
shingle  to  make  it  burn.  I  study  grammar  and  parsing 
from  nine  until  eleven,  and  from  eleven  till  twelve  Dic- 
tionary, in  the  morning ;  in  the  afternoon  I  study  Dic- 
tionary from  two  till  one  quarter  before  three,  then 
recite  all  my  lessons,  then  write  an  hour  and  study 
grammar  from  that  till  five  for  one  week :  the  next 
week  I  study  the  Bible,  beginning  at  the  book  of  Gen- 
esis, in  place  of  Walker's  dictionary.  We  write  compo- 
sitions on  Saturday  morning.  .  .  .  P.  S.  My  father  has 
gone  to  Erie  to  meet  Count  Maximilian  de  Seon,  whose 
fame  has  doubtless  reached  you  long  ere  this :  notice  has 
been  taken  of  his  wealth  in  every  paper  in  the  Union, 
and  many  surmises  as  to  where  he  will  establish  him- 
self." 

As  Mr.  Nichols  had  been  ordained,  the  church  could 
now  have  the  rites  of  baptism  and  communion  admin- 
istered. At  the  communion  service  in  his  time,  a  glass 
loving-cup  made  and  presented  to  the  church  by  Ben- 
jamin Bakewell  was  passed  from  one  member  to  another 
as  the  communicants  sat  about  the  lawyers'  table  within 
the  bar  at  the  Court  House.1  It  was  in  his  time,  too, 
that  Miss  Margaret  Shippen  gathered  the  children  of 
the  little  congregation  together,  and,  assisted  by  mem- 
bers of  the  Huidekoper,  Cullum,  and  Shippen  families, 

1  E.  M.  Wilbur  in  the  Historical  'Sketch  of  the  Independent  Congrega- 
tional (  Unitarian)  Church  of  Meadoille,  Pa.,  p.  26. 


266  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

began  the  Sunday-school  work  which  afterward  grew 
to  such  large  proportions. 

In  connection  with  the  Rev.  Alanson  Brigham,  an- 
other ordained  minister,  who  taught  in  the  school  and 
preached  in  the  Court  House  for  a  year  after  Mr. 
Nichols'  departure,  came  a  close  acquaintance  of  the 
young  household  with  death.  Mr.  Brigham  was  about 
to  enter  upon  his  second  year  when  an  attack  of  typhoid 
fever  seized  him  at  Pomona.  This  was  on  his  return  to 
Meadville,  after  his  summer's  vacation  at  the  East.  In 
taking  this  journey 1  he  had  traveled  by  stage  and 
steamboat  via  Boston,  Providence,  New  York,  Albany, 
and  Buffalo.  From  Buffalo  he  went  by  steamboat  to 
Erie,  or  rather  to  "  the  peninsula,"  where  he  was  landed 
at  night,  and  in  which  malarial  place  he  had  to  wait 
several  hours  for  a  conveyance,  stage  or  wagon,  to 
carry  him  to  Meadville.  "  This  caused  an  illness," 
says  Frederic  Huidekoper,  "  issuing  in  the  typhoid 
fever  of  which  he  died."  Frederic  bore  a  part  in  the 
labor  of  nursing,  and  contracted  the  fever,  which 
made  him  an  invalid  for  several  months.  "  I  surmise," 
continues  he,  in  his  dictated  reminiscences,  "  that  this 
fever  caused  in  my  case  short-sightedness,  and  it  may 
also  have  occasioned  a  gradual  contraction  of  sight, 
which  has  ended  in  blindness." 

Blindness  was  far  in  the  future  at  that  time.  One 
meeting  Frederic  then  was  struck  by  a  certain  boyish 
radiance  which  made  him  to  his  friends  the  very 

1  Another  route  was  by  way  of  the  mountains,  which  at  that  time  could 
be  crossed  between  Huntingdon  and  Johnstown  by  a  cable  railway,  con- 
sisting of  tracks  laid  on  inclined  planes,  five  on  one  side  of  the  mountain, 
five  on  the  other,  each  plane  being  about  three-quarters  of  a  mile  long, 
and  supplied  with  a  cable  twice  the  length  of  the  plane,  so  that  it  took  up 
on  one  side  two  cars,  while  letting  down  two  on  the  other. 


WITH  THE  YOUNG  HOUSEHOLD  AT  POMONA      257 

embodiment  of  youth.  His  enthusiasms,  however,  were 
all  for  study  and  books.  While  deeply  appreciative  of 
Mr.  Nichols,  and  probably  of  Mr.  Brigham,  he  could 
only  look  with  wonder  and  some  distaste  upon  the 
special  talents  and  idiosyncrasies  of  his  next  tutor,  Mr. 
Dwight.  "  John  S.  Dwight  [was]  a  person  of  gentle 
disposition,  but  of  much  less  aptitude  for  teaching. 
He  had  an  admiration  for  Shakespeare  and  a  strong 
desire  for  playing  upon  the  piano,  being  very  fond  of 
music,  afterwards  devoting  much  time  to  composition, 
especially  of  church  music." 

It  was  largely  Mr.  Dwight,  however,  and  William 
Henry  Channing,  who  brought  to  Pomona  a  light  sug- 
gestion of  the  dawning  spirit  of  the  New  England 
renaissance,  the  awakening  to  joy  in  life,  to  relish  for 
the  beautiful  in  literature  and  art,  and  to  the  desire  to 
experiment  in  new  modes  of  living,  to  create  fresh 
ideals,  and  to  build  religion  and  society  anew;  the 
spirit  which,  in  its  loftier  flight,  was  called  at  first  in 
derision  "transcendentalism."  But  all  this  was  merely  in 
embryo  when  John  Sullivan  Dwight  and  William  Henry 
Channing  walked  the  Meadville  woods  and  drew  inspi- 
ration from  its  gracious  hillsides.  Mr.  Dwight's  "ad- 
miration for  Shakespeare "  is  further  illustrated  by 
another  reminiscence.  "  While  he  [Mr.  Dwight]  was 
with  us  William  H.  Channing  filled  for  some  months 
our  pulpit,  and  on  one  occasion  they  two,  with  my 
brother  Edgar  and  myself,  visited  your  grandfather's 
vacant  field  on  the  top  of  the  hill  on  the  opposite  side 
of  the  creek.  There  we  seated  ourselves  on  stumps  and 
read  for  the  benefit  of  our  lungs.  A  congregation  of 
cows  collected,  and  your  uncle  Edgar  with  Mr,  Chan- 
ning took  two  umbrellas  and  ran  towards  them,  opening 


268  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

and  shutting  the  umbrellas.    The  cows  took  down  the 

o 

hillside  in  a  fright,  and  the  readers  returned  to  their 
positions.  Within  ten  minutes  the  herd  of  fifteen  or 
twenty  animals  returned.  This  time  they  came  cau- 
tiously, each  cow  protruding  its  head  warily  through 
the  bushes.  The  whole  side  of  the  field  presented  a 
row  of  cows  listening  to  Shakespeare." 

Mr.  Dwight,  while  he  was  in  Meadville,  was  the  life 
of  the  Lyceum,  that  New  England  institution  now  a 
landmark  of  the  past,  but  which  flourished  for  a  time  in 
the  little  Pennsylvania  town.  After  his  departure,  Anna 
testifies,  the  Lyceum  languished ;  there  were  melan- 
choly nights  when  long  prosing  made  the  young  folks 
stir  uneasily  on  the  benches,  and  laughable  nights  when 
garrulous  dullness  concerned  itself  with  impossible  sup- 
positions. Now  and  again  it  would  revive.  "  We  had  a 
pretty  good  lecture  from  Father,"  records  his  daughter 
Anna,  in  January,  1835,  "  on  the  advantages  of  intel- 
lectual cultivation,  and  afterwards  a  debate  on  the  ques- 
tion '  Is  animal  instinct  in  any  manner  to  be  compared 

with  human  reason  ? '  Mr. .  .  .  contended  that 

even  the  Indian  had  nothing  to  guide  him  but  instinct, 
that  he  never  exercised  the  faculty  of  reason,  indeed, 
did  not  possess  it.  ...  I  think  I  will  send  him  some  of 
Cooper's  novels  to  read.  It  may  give  him  an  exagger- 
ated, but  at  any  rate  a  nobler,  idea  of  his  red  breth- 
ren." 

The  arrival  of  guests  from  the  larger  world  beyond 
the  mountains  was  always  hailed  with  joy  in  the  hospit- 
able mansion  ;  and  when  one  day  a  stranger  from  over 
the  sea  came  all  unexpected  to  Pomona,  it  was  an  event 
which  filled  a  large  space  in  two  of  Anna's  letters  to 
her  brother. 


WITH  THE  YOUNG  HOUSEHOLD  AT  POMONA      269 

[November  4,  1834.]  What  a  long,  long  time  since 
I  wrote  last  to  you,  but  I  think  you  will  not  refuse  me 
absolution,  when  I  say  how  we  have  been  employed  for 
the  last  week.  Last  Wednesday  morning  immediately 
after  breakfast  two  ladies  called  and  handed  their  cards 
and  a  letter ;  I  asked  them  to  walk  in,  and  on  glancing 
at  their  cards  found  that  our  guests  were  Miss  Marti- 
neau  and  a  young  lady  who  is  travelling  with  her.  We 
welcomed  Miss  M.  as  you  may  suppose,  with  great  joy, 
and  they  have  been  with  us  ever  since,  until  yesterday 
afternoon,  when  they  left  for  Pittsburgh.  Oh,  what 
rare  enjoyment  we  had  those  five  days !  Miss  M.  is  most 
delightful  in  conversation,  and  we  walked,  rode  and 
talked  (or  rather  listened)  all  day  long.  Miss  M.  is  a 
great  pedestrian  and  has  tired  me  out  completely.  To 
be  sure,  that  does  not  require  much  exertion.  She  has 
left  us  quite  melancholy  and  desolate,  and  so  I  have 
betaken  myself  to  sewing  as  the  only  preventive  to  a 
severe  fit  of  the  blues.  Four  of  a  family  is  really  too 
quiet  for  me,  and  four  such  silent  ones  too.  Alfred  got 
home  on  Saturday  night,  and  yesterday  morning  he  left 
again  with  Father,  Ma,  and  Edgar  for  Erie,  from  which 
they  will  return  on  Friday.  They  gave  me  a  polite  in- 
vitation to  join  their  party,  but  I  would  rather  be  ex- 
cused a  visit  to  Erie  at  this  season  of  the  year.  Wonder 
whether  their  lake  is  so  often  apostrophised  since  lawyer 
Albert  left  ?  I  feel  no  temptation  to  brave  its  Novem- 
ber winds  just  now,  and  at  any  rate  would  rather  have 
spent  yesterday  morning  with  Miss  Martineau  than 
staging  it  between  this  and  Waterford. 

[December  14,  1834.]  As  to  Mrs.  Follen's  request 
that  I  would  tell  her  all  about  Miss  Martineau,  you  may 
tell  her  that  I  know  nothing  ;  if  a  personal  description 
be  wished,  I  don't  know  that  she  could  have  a  better 
impression  than  that  conveyed  by  her  portrait  in  her 
"Devotional  Exercises ; "  't  is  rather  flattered,  to  be  sure, 
but  still  it  is  very  like  Miss  M.  She  talks  a  good  deal 
and  rather  fast,  but  that  we  thought  quite  an  advantage 


200  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

to  us  who  saw  so  little  of  her,  as  it  enabled  her  to  crowd 
a  great  deal  that  was  interesting  in  a  very  limited  space 
of  time.  Her  manners  are  very  friendly,  and  she  made 
us  all  feel  perfectly  at  ease  in  her  company  from  the 
first  moment.  She  seemed  to  have  formed  none  of  those 
prejudices  against  our  institutions,  our  customs  and 
manners  which  we  find  so  universally  among  English 
travellers,  and  even  those  trifling  little  adventures  which 
she  met  with  in  stage  or  inn  which  would  have  annoyed 
any  one  else  and  would  probably  have  been  complained 
of  as  impertinent  curiosity  or  disrespect  or  too  much 
familiarity,  Miss  M.  thought  were  "  very  amusing," 
"  very  original,"  or  "  it  showed  a  spirit  of  independ- 
ence "  in  our  common  people.  She  is  admirably  calcu- 
lated to  travel  to  advantage,  for  she  will  see  everything 
that  is  to  be  seen  and  hear  everything  that  is  to  be 
heard,  and  I  don't  think  her  manners  will  offend  even 
the  most  jealous  American.  If  you  want  to  know  what 
were  her  precise  religious  views  you  must  ask  pa  or  Mr. 
Day,  for  I  believe  they  discussed  them  at  length.  If 
her  politics  as  respects  our  government,  you  must  wait 
till  she  has  been  some  time  in  Washington.  Miss  Jeffery 
told  me  that  she  would  write  from  the  seat  of  govern- 
ment to  let  us  know  what  opinions  Miss  M.  had  formed 
there,  for  when  here  she  had  not  yet  composed  her 
political  creed,  though  I  rather  think  there  was  a  lean- 
ing to  Jacksonism.  At  least  she  generally  defended 
the  few  principles  which  the  Jackson  men  profess.  Miss 
Jeffery  is  very  lively  and  intelligent  and  an  agreeable 
companion  for  Miss  M.  I  believe  I  mentioned  before 
that  she  wrote  me  from  Pittsburgh,  where  they  made  a 
transitory  visit,  and  since  which  I  have  heard  nothing 
of  them  save  through  the  newspapers,  which  announce 
frequently  the  arrival  of  "  the  justly  celebrated  Miss 

Martineau  "  in  this  or  that  place. I  can't  waste  any 

more  paper  on  Miss  M.,  but,  I  pray  you,  don't  think  I 
have  written  this  for  Mrs.  Follen ;  you  may  tell  her  one 
or  two  remarks,  but  I  beg  you  won't  read  it  to  her, 


WITH  THE  YOUNG  HOUSEHOLD  AT  POMONA      261 

for  I  feel  quite  unequal  to  the  task  of  describing  the 
authoress. 

Miss  Martineau,  for  her  part,  has  given  in  her  "  Au- 
tobiography "  a  brief  account  of  her  visit.  She  speaks 
of  her  arrival  in  Meadville,  October  29,  1834,  of  her 
"  hearty  reception  by  the  Huidekopers,  father  and  fine, 
handsome  son  and  daughters,"  of  the  pretty  situation  of 
the  house,  with  "  woody  hills  opposite,"  of  the  "  good 
tea "  offered  her,  and  of  the  fire  in  her  "  comfortable 
room."  On  the  next  day  there  was  "  glorious  weather," 
much  talk,  and  a  number  of  callers  until  noon,  when  with 
Mr.  Huidekoper,  Mr.  Wallace,  and  Anna  she  went  for 
"a  fine  rapid  walk  over  opposite  hill"  and  through 
woods  where  she  saw  two  black  squirrels.  The  "  sweet, 
rich  fields  stretching  under  shelter  of  woods  "  down  to 
the  creek  appealed  to  her,  as  did  the  "  sweet  drive  after 
dinner  "  on  the  third  day,  through  a  "  rich  valley  and 
the  softest  woods  when  the  red  evening  sun  shone  out." 
On  this  drive  she  saw  a  "  good  house  building  for  a 
farmer  who  lost  his  by  fire  last  winter,"  and  learned 
that  "  the  neighbors  were  bearing  the  loss  among 
them,"  so  that  he  was  "  better  off  for  a  house  than  be- 
fore." 

The  letters  to  Frederic  were  written  after  his  entrance 
in  the  Sophomore  class  at  Harvard,  in  1834.  Mr.  Dwight 
and  Mr.  Channing  as  well  as  Mr.  Huidekoper  accom- 
panied him  to  Cambridge  to  establish  him  in  his  new 
quarters  there,  and  after  that  time  the  schoolroom  at 
Pomona  knew  the  tutors  no  more. 

Another  young,  active,  vigorous  personality,  however, 
was  soon  to  come  into  close  relationship  with  Mr.  Huide- 
koper. This  was  no  other  than  James  Freeman  Clarke. 
Mr.  Clarke,  without  his  friend  W.  H.  Channing's  ten- 


262  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

dency  to  push  to  extremes,  was  distinctly  a  sharer  in 
what  Dr.  Edward  Everett  Hale  has  called l  the  "  enthu- 
siastic expectation  "  of  the  time.  A  grandson  of  James 
Freeman,  and  newly  entered  upon  the  ministry,  he  could 
look  back  upon  the  rapid  development  of  Unitarianism 
in  the  near  past,  and  draw  from  it  hopeful  anticipation 
of  a  wider  outlook  for  the  days  to  come.  To  obtain  a 
broader  horizon  he  had  left  Massachusetts,  and  was 
amassing  for  himself  in  Louisville,  Kentucky,  a  store  of 
Western  experiences.  Like  Ephraim  Peabody,  he  had 
felt  the  poetry  of  the  mountain  journey ;  with  Mr. 
Huidekoper  he  knew  human  nature  in  the  rough  as  he 
saw  it  on  coach-top  or  in  cabin,  and  had  learned  to  win 
a  kindly  response  from  the  "  quarrelsome  hard  drink- 
ers "  or  from  the  "  border  ruffian,  bristling  with  bowie 
knives." 

With  both  Mr.  Huidekoper  and  Mr.  Peabody  he  had 
an  interest  in  common  in  the  "  Western  Messenger," 
edited  at  first  by  Mr.  Peabody  and  printed  in  Cincin- 
nati, but  soon  transferred,  editorship  and  all,  to  Mr. 
Clarke  at  Louisville.  To  Mr.  Huidekoper  the  "  Messen- 
ger "  stood  as  the  natural  successor  of  the  "  Essayist." 
Indeed,  as  early  as  December,  1831,  when  he  thought 
himself  unable  from  press  of  affairs  to  continue  the 
"  Essayist,"  he  wrote  to  Mr.  Peabody  urging  him  to  go 
on  with  it. 

[December  17,  1831.]  The  December  number  of  the 
"  Essayist "  has  just  been  issued,  and  here  I  am  afraid 
I  shall  reluctantly  be  compelled  to  close  this  publication. 
There  are  several  reasons  which  could  make  me  wish 
that  it  should  be  continued.  It  is  the  only  publication 

1  A  utobiography,  Diary,  and  Correspondence  of  James  Freeman  Clarke, 
edited  by  Edward  Everett  Hale. 


WITH  THE  YOUNG  HOUSEHOLD  AT  POMONA      263 

of  the  kind  in  this  section  of  country,  and  the  only  chan- 
nel through  which  we  can  have  access  to  the  commu- 
nity at  large.  It  was  read,  and  the  subscription  list  is 
more  than  equal  to  all  the  expenses.  Besides,  this  place 
is  about  to  become  the  seat  of  the  Methodist  College, 
and  a  publication  of  this  kind  might  make  many  a  last- 
ing impression.  But  I  am  unable  to  carry  on  the  work 
alone,  and  I  have  been  totally  disappointed  in  receiving 
assistance  from  any  quarter.  .  .  .  Pray  if  I  give  it  up, 
can  you  find  leisure  to  undertake  the  editorship  of  this 
periodical,  and  can  you  get  assistance  from  Mr.  Flint  or 
any  one  near  you  in  carrying  it  on  ?  Pray  write  to  me 
as  early  as  convenient,  in  answer,  for  I  do  not  exactly 
know  how  to  decide  in  this  matter. 

As  Mr.  Peabody  could  not  then  take  up  the  work, 
Mr.  Huidekoper  continued  the  "Essayist"  for  a  year 
longer,  and  then  appealed  again  to  Mr.  Peabody  to  es- 
tablish another  Western  magazine. 

[October,  1832.]  ...  On  the  subject  of  the  "Es- 
sayist "  my  determination  remains  fixed  to  discontinue 
it  with  the  close  of  the  year.  This  is  not  a  matter  of 
choice  but  of  necessity.  The  current  business  of  my 
office  has  more  than  doubled,  perhaps  tripled,  since  you 
left  here,  and  this  leaves  me  no  leisure  to  superintend 
the  edition  of  a  periodical.  As  I  deem  it  essentially 
necessary  to  the  spread  of  liberal  Christianity  that  a 
Unitarian  periodical  should  be  published  in  the  West, 
and  as  I  know  of  no  place  more  suitable  than  Cincin- 
nati, I  wish  you  would  undertake  to  find  some  one  who 
would  act  as  editor.  ...  It  would  require  one  person 
to  devote  his  time  exclusively  to  the  editorial  depart- 
ment, and  I  doubt  whether  the  income  could  be  ren- 
dered equal  to  the  expenditure.  ...  As  to  the  size  of 
the  work,  that  I  must  leave  entirely  to  you  and  your 
coadjutors.  ...  As  to  the  name  of  this  new  luminary, 
that  I  leave  entirely  to  you.  Though  a  successor  to  the 


264  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

"  Essayist,"  yet  with  the  alteration  of  its  form  and  ar- 
rangement, the  name  had  probably  better  be  changed. 
I  am  perfectly  willing  to  contribute  from  time  to  time 
articles  for  your  periodical  whenever  my  leisure  will 
admit  of  it,  and  Mr.  Brigham  has  promised  also  his 
assistance. 

It  was  only  six  months  after  the  first  appearance  of 
the  "Messenger,"  in  June,  1835,  that  Mr.  Peabody  gave 
the  editorship  over  into  Mr.  Clarke's  hands,  and  this 
brought  Mr.  Huidekoper  and  Mr.  Clarke  into  frequent 
communication.  The  "  Messenger "  had  a  wider  aim 
than  the  "  Essayist "  ever  aspired  to.  Its  literary  tone 
was  marked.  In  its  first  volume  Mr.  Clarke  introduced 
to  the  western  world  translations  from  Goethe  and 
Schiller  and  fragments  of  the  German  theology.  More- 
over, he  had  in  Louisville  come  upon  John  Keats's 
brother  George,  with  whom  he  studied  Carlyle,  and  by 
whose  courtesy  he  was  enabled  to  publish  in  the  "  Mes- 
senger "  portions  of  a  journal  kept  by  John  Keats  dur- 
ing a  pedestrian  tour  through  a  part  of  England  and 
Scotland  in  the  year  1818,  and  sent  to  a  third  brother, 
Thomas,  in  letters.  The  passages  given  include  those 
on  Windermere  Lake  and  Mountains,  and  on  Icolmkill, 
Stafford,  and  Fingal's  Cave. 

It  is  also  to  be  noted  that  Emerson's  "  Each  and  All," 
his  "  Humble-bee,"  «  To  the  Rhodora,"  and  "  Good-bye, 
Proud  World," l  were  all  first  given  to  the  public  through 

1  "  Good-bye,  Proud  World,"  the  title  of  which  was  later  changed  to 
"Good-bye,"  probably  owes  its  present  existence  to  Mr.  Clarke.  He 
found  a  manuscript  copy  of  it  among  some  papers  given  him  by  Margaret 
Fuller,— a  stray  waif,  included  by  mistake,  — and  wrote  to  Emerson 
for  permission  to  print  it.  Emerson  replied,  "  You  are  quite  welcome 
to  the  lines  '  To  the  Rhodora  ;'  ...  of  the  other  verses  I  send  you  a  cor- 
rected copy,  but  I  wonder  so  much  at  your  wishing  to  print  them  that 
I  think  you  must  read  them  once  again  with  your  critical  spectacles 


WITH  THE  YOUNG  HOUSEHOLD  AT  POMONA      265 

the  "  Messenger."  Mr.  Clarke  published  them  in  1838, 
saying,  "  The  same  antique  charm,  the  same  grace  and 
sweetness,  which  distinguish  the  prose  writings  of  our 
author,  will  be  found  in  his  verse.  These  are  almost 
the  first  poetical  specimens  of  his  writings  which  have 
appeared  in  print." 

Early  in  the  winter  of  1835-36  Mrs.  Huidekoper  and 
her  son  Edgar,  both  of  whom  were  much  in  need  of  a 
warmer  climate  to  restore  impaired  health,  and  Anna, 
who  accompanied  them,  journeyed  southward  to  Mobile 
and  New  Orleans.  Mr.  Clarke,  who  had  planned  a  visit 
to  Mobile  in  the  Unitarian  interest,  joined  them  there, 
and  the  acquaintance,  formed  under  auspicious  circum- 
stances, progressed  rapidly. 

Mr.  Huidekoper' s  letters  to  the  absent  ones  are  filled 
with  the  tenderest  solicitude  and  affection.  "  My  dear, 
dear  wanderers,"  he  often  addressed  them,  and  "My 
dear  loves,"  and  he  noted  eagerly  each  symptom  of  im- 
provement as  the  months  of  separation  wore  on.  Let- 
ters were  slow  and  uncertain,  —  nine  days  in  getting 
to  Louisville  under  ordinary  circumstances,  and  two  of 
them,  through  some  delay,  taking  three  weeks  in  the 
transit ;  while  from  New  Orleans  the  normal  time  was 
twenty-two  days. 

To  Edgar,  who,  although  only  twenty-three  years 
old,  was  already  his  right-hand  man  in  all  his  practical 
affairs,  he  wrote  constantly  of  the  matters  connected 
with  his  business,  and  the  letters  reveal  the  utmost  con- 
fidence in  his  son's  financial  sagacity.  The  home  chron- 
icle also  was  carefully  kept  for  the  travelers. 

before  they  go  further.  They  were  written  sixteen  years  ago,  when  I 
kept  school  in  Boston  and  lived  in  a  corner  of  Roxbury  called  Canter- 
bury." Autobiography,  Diary,  and  Correspondence  of  James  Freeman 
Clarke,  edited  by  Edward  Everett  Hale,  p.  126. 


266  HARM  JAN   HUIDEKOPER 

[December  12,  1835.]  My  new  clerk  l  has  not  yet 
arrived,  —  neither  is  there  any  further  account  of  him. 
If  he  should  not  come,  it  is  no  great  matter,  as  with  Al- 
fred's assistance  I  can  very  well  get  on,  Lizzy  assisting 
me  occasionally  with  the  calculations,  and  Frederic  in 
copying.  I  never  felt  the  value  of  my  Lizzy  as  much  as 
I  do  at  this  moment.  Mrs.  Hazlett  and  Margaret  are 
as  kind  as  it  is  possible  to  be ;  but  Lizzy  excels  them 
both.  It  appears  to  be  her  constant  study  to  anticipate 
every  want  and  every  wish  of  mine,  so  that  you  may 
be  assured  I  am  well  taken  care  of.  To-day  she  and 
Malvina  are  busy  making  some  of  their  poor  scholars 
comfortable. 

[January  5,  1836.]  On  Sunday  last  I  received  also 
a  letter  from  our  friend  E.  Peabody.  He  tells  me  that 
he  does  not  think  the  state  of  his  health  requires  that 
he  should  go  South,  and  hence  he  declines  the  offer  I 
had  made  him  to  place  funds  at  his  disposal  for  his 
journey.  His  letter  is  a  very  friendly  and  very  feeling 
one. 

[January  31,  1836.]  I  wish  you  had  our  carriage 
and  horses  to  ride  out  on  the  beautiful  shell  roads  Anna 
speaks  of.  As  it  is  you  must  hire  a  carriage  and  ride 
when  you  feel  an  inclination  for  it.  Do  not,  my  dear 
wife  and  children,  let  mistaken  ideas  of  economy  pre- 
vent you  from  it.  Only  take  care  of  your  health,  and 
think  not  of  the  expense.  I  can  very  well  afford  it,  as 
my  income  exceeded  my  expenses  last  year  by  about 
nine  thousand  dollars. 

[February  9, 1836.]  I  got  all  my  accounts  (with  the 
exception  of  Albert's)  made  out  and  sent  off  before  I  set 
out  for  Erie.  I  was  at  Erie  till  Saturday,  and  shall  have 
to  return  there  next  week  to  finish  the  settlement  of  my 
tax  accounts.  It  was  a  very  busy  week,  of  which  Edgar 
can  judge  when  I  tell  him  that,  besides  the  $2000  which 
I  loaned  Kellogg  in  November  last  to  be  repaid  in  Feb- 
ruary, I  received  upwards  of  $5000.  I  have  now  (that 

1  Mr.  Michael  H.  Bagley.    He  afterward  married  Margaret  Hazlett. 


WITH  THE  YOUNG  HOUSEHOLD  AT  POMONA      267 

is,  when  Fred  reaches  Pittsburg)  $5000  in  bank  there ; 
$2500  in  Buffalo,  as  much  more  in  the  Erie  Bank,  and 
between  $1500  and  $2000  at  home.  If  Edgar  finds  a 
good  speculation  in  sugar  or  anything  else,  I  can  furnish 
the  funds. 

I  was  in  hopes  that  Mr.  Clarke  would  have  remained 
at  Mobile  during  the  whole  winter,  and  I  feel  very  sorry 
that  you  are  going  to  lose  him  so  soon.  I  sincerely  re- 
joice at  his  success,  and  hope  a  suitable  pastor  will 
shortly  be  procured  for  the  infant  congregation.  This 
strengthens  me  in  the  opinion  which  I  have  long  held 
and  have  often  expressed ;  namely  that  the  readiest  way 
to  propagate  our  faith  is,  to  send  suitable  missionaries 
to  the  larger  cities  to  gather  congregations  and  organize 
them. 

[February  10,  1836.]  I  left  my  letter  yesterday  un- 
finished so  as  to  have  an  opportunity  of  giving  you  the 
news  which  the  mail  of  this  morning  might  bring.  I 
received  a  letter  from  Mr.  Wallace,  now  at  Harrisburg, 
in  which  he  says  that  there  is  no  doubt  but  that  the 
Bank  and  Canal  bill  will  pass.  Other  letters  received  by 
other  persons  speak  with  equal  confidence.  This  is  glo- 
rious news.  Another  piece  of  news  I  heard  this  morn- 
ing is  not  quite  so  pleasing.  You  know,  I  presume, 
that  the  H.  L.  Co.  sold  all  their  lands  in  New  York  to 
Le  Roy  and  others.  The  new  owners  proved  much  more 
strict  than  the  so  much  complained  of  foreigners.  A 
convention  of  the  settlers  in  Chautauqua  County  was 
called,  and  a  deputation  sent  to  Mr.  D.  E.  Evans  at 
Batavia,  who  told  the  ambassadors  that  he  had  nothing 
to  do  with  the  matter.  I  believe  the  new  proprietors 
were  also  waited  on,  but  without  effect.  On  Saturday 
last  a  mob  of  about  700,  it  is  said,  attacked  the  Com- 
pany's office  at  May ville  ;  broke  open  the  vault ;  car- 
ried off  all  the  papers  and  burned  them.  Peacock  had 
hid  himself,  and  thus  escaped  the  personal  violence 
which  was  intended  for  him.  What  the  result  will  be 
time  must  show. 


268  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPEB 

The  travelers  returned  in  mid-May,  Edgar  benefited 
by  his  southern  winter,  but  Mrs.  Huidekoper,  through 
taking  cold  on  the  homeward  journey,  having  lost  all 
that  she  had  gained.  They  found  the  members  of  the 
Unitarian  congregation,  and  of  course  the  young  people 
at  Pomona,  deeply  interested  in  church  affairs. 

The  Rev.  John  Quinby  Day '  had,  in  October,  1834, 
come  to  fill  the  pulpit  left  vacant  by  Mr.  Brigham's 
death,  and  since  that  event  temporarily  occupied  for 
three  months  by  the  Rev.  Amos  Dean  Wheeler,2  and 
then  from  May  to  August  or  September  by  the  Rev. 
William  Henry  Channing.  Mr.  Day  was  formally  called 
by  the  congregation  after  a  three  months'  trial,  and  re- 
mained the  minister  until  September,  1837. 

From  the  very  first  days  of  its  existence  the  Mead- 
ville  society  had  wished  to  build  a  church  of  its  own. 
The  project  had  been  agitated  from  time  to  time,  and 
now,  in  1835,  Miss  Margaret  Shippen,  with  Mr.  Huide- 
koper,  had  given  the  land,  a  piece  of  ground  which  had 
originally  been  part  of  the  David  Mead  estate  ;  the 
plans  were  drawn  by  Lieutenant  George  W.  Cullum, 
U.  S.  A.,  afterwards  the  constructing  engineer  of  Fort 
Sumter,  the  contract  was  undertaken  by  a  Meadville 
builder,  and  just  one  year  from  the  time  when  the  land 
was  conveyed  to  the  trustees  the  finished  edifice  was 
ready  for  dedication. 

1  John  Quinby  Day  "  resigned  September  1, 1837,  and  went  away  bear- 
ing with  him  the  good-will  of  the  parish.    He  sought  no  other  charge,  but 
became  a  teacher  at  Medford,  Mass.,  and  eventually  an  editor  at  Port- 
land, Maine,  where  he  died,  March  5,  1884,  aged  seventy-four  years." 
The  Independent  Congregational  (Unitarian)  Church  of  Meadville,  p.  36. 

2  "  Amos  Dean  Wheeler,  formerly  of  Salem,  Mass.,  was  ...  an  inde- 
fatigable worker,  of  large  natural  endowments  and  fine  scholarship.    His 
subsequent  ministry  was  spent  in  Maine,  where  he  died,  at  Topsham, 
June  30,  1876,  aged  seventy-two."     Ibid.,  p.  29. 


WITH  THE  YOUNG  HOUSEHOLD  AT  POMONA      269 

Letters  from  Anna  written  before  she  went  to  Mobile 
give  a  pleasant  glimpse  of  the  interest  of  the  young 
people :  — 

[February  5,  1835.]  We  have  been  very  busy  lately 
building  churches ;  but  whenever  we  get  a  design,  we 
so  improve  and  alter  and  ornament  that  it  rapidly  be- 
comes an  elegant  edifice  which  we  have  not  the  means 
of  building.  The  wish  is  to  erect  a  commodious  edifice 
which  shall  unite  elegance  with  simplicity  and  yet  not 
be  expensive.  Can  you  solve  the  problem  ?  Father  has 
taken  a  great  fancy  to  the  church  at  Harrisburg,  but 
the  rest  of  us  object  to  the  upper  part  of  the  front  and 
yet  we  don't  see  how  the  upper  part  can  be  altered  while 
the  lower  part  remains  the  same ;  do  you  know  who 
dedicated  it?  or  any  one  who  has  seen  it  and  could  say 
what  impression  it  made  on  him  ?  Mr.  Day  thinks  we 
could  have  a  miniature  copy  of  Mr.  Farley's  in  Provi- 
dence ;  the  design  is  from  the  temple  of  Theseus  with 
columns  in  front ;  you  remember  we  have  a  fine  en- 
graving of  that  temple  in  the  "  Voyage  d'Anacharsis." 
Pa  intends  bearing  the  entire  expense,  and  as  his  family 
expenditures  can't  fall  far  short  of  his  income  I  suppose 
he  will  not  be  able  to  appropriate  a  great  deal.  Do  you 
know  of  any  better  models  in  New  England?  Miseri- 
cordia,  why  ain't  we  rich  ?  Edgar  is  to  have  the  trouble 
of  overseeing. 

[September  10,  1835.]  Our  church  has  been  com- 
menced. Some  of  us  in  walking  past  the  ground  a  few 
evenings  since  stopped  and  laid  the  corner  stone,  though 
I  dare  say  it  was  refixed  the  next  day  by  the  mason.  I 
am  all  anxiety  to  know  who  will  feel  sufficiently  inter- 
ested to  come  out  to  the  West  and  dedicate  it.  We  are 
looking  forward  to  the  visits  of  Unitarian  clergymen 
(whoever  they  may  be)  with  the  greatest  pleasure.' 

James  Thurston,  Henry  Coleman,  and  Ephraim  Pea- 
body  were  the  ones  who  finally  accepted  the  invi- 


270  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

tations,  and  the  ceremony  took  place  on  August  20, 
1836.1 

The  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Clarke  resulted  in  his 
marriage,  in  1839,  to  Anna  Huidekoper.  Mr.  Huide- 
koper's  relations  with  his  prospective  son-in-law  were 
already  of  the  happiest  kind,  and  further  intimacy  but 
increased  their  cordiality. 

On  December  17,  1838,  he  wrote :  - 

I  sit  down  this  time,  not  to  send  you  an  essay  for  the 
"  Messenger,"  but  to  write  you  a  letter  on  business.  I 
had  given  certain  matters  in  charge  to  my  daughter 
Ann,  and  as  I  find  she  has  but  half  executed  them,  I 
must  even  myself  supply  her  deficiencies. 

It  is  the  wish  of  my  daughter,  and  I  understand  it  is 
your  wish  also,  that  you  should  go  to  housekeeping  im- 
mediately after  your  marriage.  In  this,  my  wishes  coin- 
cide with  yours,  for  then  I  shall  have  a  house  to  go  to, 
when  I  visit  you,  which  I  propose  doing  if  my  life  and 
health  are  spared.  But  in  carrying  these  wishes  into 

1  "  I  have  just  returned  from  Meadville,  where  I  went  for  the  purpose 
of  being  present  at  the  dedication  of  the  new  Unitarian  church  which  our 
friends  there  have  just  completed.  Rev.  Mr.  Coleman  preached  the  ser- 
rnon,  and  an  admirable  one  it  was,  and  listened  to  with  the  greatest  at- 
tention by  a  crowded  audience.  The  pastor,  Mr.  Day,  made  the  conse- 
crating prayer,  and  the  other  services  were  distributed  between  our  friend 
Mr.  Thurston,  and  myself.  The  church,  which  is  of  brick  with  a  Doric 
front,  and  built  on  an  admirably  chosen  spot,  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
in  its  architecture  of  any  west  of  the  Allegheny  mountains  that  I  have 
seen.  The  expense  of  erecting  it  has  fallen  on  a  small  number  of  individ- 
uals, but  with  willing  hearts  and  generous  hands  it  was  built  as  easily  and 
noiselessly  as  any  church  that  I  ever  knew  anything  of.  And  what  is  more, 
before  the  day  of  dedication,  it  was  completed  and  paid  for  —  finished 
even  to  the  railing  that  encloses  it,  and  the  organ  in  the  gallery.  ...  I 
look  on  this  society,  though  not  large  in  number,  yet  from  the  character 
of  those  who  compose  it  as  one  of  the  strongest  societies  which  receive 
our  opinions  in  the  west."  Extract  from  a  letter  from  Ephraim  Peabody 
to  the  editor  of  the  Western  Messenger  (J.  F.  Clarke),  Western  Messen- 
ger, vol.  ii.  p.  207. 


WITH  THE  YOUNG  HOUSEHOLD  AT  POMONA      271 

effect,  you  must  not  be  involved  in  any  difficulties.  I 
understand  you  are  not  wealthy.  I  mention  this  simply 
as  an  apology  for  my  interference  in  your  domestic  ar- 
rangements, for  I  hope  you  do  me  the  justice  to  believe 
that  the  want  of  wealth  does  not  render  you  less  accep- 
table to  me.  All  I  wish  for  in  my  son-in-law  is  personal 
worth,  and  an  amiable  disposition.  These  I  believe  you 
possess  in  a  high  degree.  As  to  the  rest,  that  I  can 
supply  myself. 

It  is  my  intention  to  furnish  the  house  for  you,  or 
rather  to  place  the  necessary  funds  at  Ann's  disposal  to 
furnish  it  herself.  If  in  making  your  domestic  arrange- 
ments it  becomes  necessary  that  you  should  make  some 
purchases  previous  to  the  wedding,  I  will  cheerfully 
place  the  necessary  sum  to  defray  them  at  your  disposal. 
As  your  domestic  arrangements  will  necessarily  be  af- 
fected by  your  probable  income,  I  will  inform  you  what 
it  is  my  intention  to  do  in  this  respect.  My  daughter 
says  it  is  her  wish  to  live  comfortably,  but  plainly ;  and 
it  is  my  wish  that  you  should  live  free  from  pecuniary 
care,  with  an  income  not  only  sufficient  for  your  own 
wants,  but  with  something  to  spare  for  the  wants  of 
others.  It  is  therefore  my  intention  to  add  annually  the 
sum  of  one  thousand  dollars  to  your  income.  Whether 
that  addition  will  be  sufficient  I  cannot  tell,  as  I  am 
unacquainted  with  the  expense  of  living  in  your  city. 
If  it  is  not,  the  sum  may  be  increased  without  incon- 
venience to  me. 

I  enter  into  all  these  details,  so  that  knowing  what 
your  annual  income  will  be,  in  the  beginning,  you  may 
regulate  your  domestic  arrangements  in  accordance 
with  it. 

A  month  before  the  wedding,  in  July,  1839,  Mr. 
Huidekoper  with  his  daughter  Anna  visited  Boston, 
where  they  were  warmly  welcomed.  "  You  cannot  form 
to  yourself  an  idea  of  the  kind  attentions  we  meet  with," 


272  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

wrote  Mr.  Huidekoper.  "  We  owe  a  large  portion  of 
these  calls  to  Anna's  secret  having  been  divulged  before 
our  arrival.  Mr.  Clarke  has  a  large  circle  of  relatives 
and  friends  here,  and  these  are  all  striving  who  shall 
have  her  or  show  her  most  attention."  1  Andrew  P. 
Peabody  and  Mr.  Merrick  came  to  see  them,  and  Anna 
went  to  Newton  to  spend  a  Sunday  with  Mr.  Clarke's 
sister,  "  a  very  amiable  girl  and  much  respected  here." 
They  dined  at  Mr.  Norton's  and  paid  a  visit  to  Mr. 
Cushing's  extensive  gardens,  where  the  flowers,  pine- 
apples, and  figs  delighted  Mr.  Huidekoper's  horticul- 
turist's eye. 

In  August  the  household  and  a  few  guests  gathered 
at  Pomona  and  witnessed  the  marriage ;  two  or  three 
weeks  later  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Clarke  left  Meadville  for  Ken- 
tucky. From  that  time  onward  the  new  household  pos- 
sessed for  the  father  a  scarcely  secondary  interest.  Every 
trial  or  success  that  came  to  Mr.  Clarke,  and  many  of 
the  philanthropic  schemes  that  he  formed,  found  Mr. 
Huidekoper  ready  with  sympathy  and  support. 

[September  24,  1839.]  This  morning,  my  dear  Anna, 
we  received  your  letter  of  the  18th,  and  though  as  a 
general  thing  we  have  limited  the  number  of  letters  to 
be  sent  to  you  to  one  a  week  (a  pretty  decent  allowance 
most  people  would  think  this  to  be),  yet  as  you  are  so 
good  and  faithful  a  correspondent  yourself,  the  rule  is 
not  to  be  so  strictly  construed  but  that  the  day  of  writ- 
ing may  reasonably  be  anticipated,  as  I  do  at  this  time. 

But  before  I  enter  on  other  matters,  I  want  to  make 
a  couple  of  remarks  with  respect  to  your  letters.  In  the 
first  place,  I  would  recommend  to  you  to  procure  larger 
sized  paper  to  write  on,  such  for  instance  as  I  use  for 
this  letter.  I  know  that  foolscap  is  not  exactly  the  polite 

1  Letter  of  July  3,  1839,  written  to  his  wife. 


WITH  THE  YOUNG  HOUSEHOLD  AT  POMONA      273 

thing  in  writing  to  strangers ;  but  when  you  write  home 
it  will  give  you  more  room  to  tell  us  what  you  have  to 
say.  In  the  second  place,  I  do  not  wish  that  Mr.  Clarke 
should  pay  the  postage  on  your  or  his  letters.  They  are 
amply  worth  the  postage  to  us.  As  to  our  paying  the 
postage  of  the  letters  we  send  from  here,  that  is  alto- 
gether another  matter.  You  know  that  it  is  our  stand- 
ing rule  to  do  so,  in  writing  to  one  of  the  absent 
members  of  the  family.  .  .  . 

That  there  are  disagreeable  duties  connected  with  Mr. 
Clarke's  school  agency,  I  doubt  not.  Such  belong  to 
every  station  in  life,  and  it  is  frequently  a  trying  task  to 
be  faithful  to  them.  I  was  glad  to  learn  that  you  were 
to  accompany  Mr.  C.  in  a  visit  to  the  poor  schoolmas- 
ter's family,  and  also  that  you  had  taken  a  class  in  the 
Sunday-school.  We  are  never  more  happy  than  when 
employed  in  works  of  usefulness  or  benevolence ;  and 
as  you  have  no  domestic  occupations,  you  stand  in  need 
of  something  of  the  kind  you  mention  in  order  to  spend 
your  time  pleasantly.  .  .  . 

.  .  .  Tell  Mr.  Clarke  that  I  have  prepared  an  article 
for  the  "  Messenger,"  which  I  should  have  been  glad  to 
show  him  before  it  went  to  the  press.  It  is  headed  "  On 
Sin,"  and  is  a  leaf  from  an  unwritten  book,  which  I  had 
once  projected,  but  which  is  likely  to  remain  unwritten. 
I  suspect  that,  like  my  article  on  future  retribution,  it 
will  appear  to  some  not  altogether  orthodox. 

Has  Mr.  Clarke  got  Mr.  Norton's  late  address  ?  The 
author  sent  me  a  copy  of  it,  which  I  have  read  with 
much  interest.  I  like  Mr.  Norton's  writings,  not  only 
because,  in  the  main,  they  agree  with  my  mode  of  think- 
ing, but  on  account  of  their  perfect  lucidness.  I  dislike 
to  have  to  guess  at  a  writer's  meaning.  I  once  under- 
took to  read  DeWette's  "  Theodore,"  but  gave  it  up  in 
despair.  I  hope  Mr.  Clarke  was  more  successful,  as  he 
undertook  to  translate  the  work.  The  main  error  of  Mr. 
Norton  in  his  late  address  appears  to  me  to  be,  that, 
thinking  clearly,  and  reasoning  very  logically  himself, 


274  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

he  does  not  make  sufficient  allowance  for  others.  I 
think  a  man  may  be  a  very  sincere  and  very  good  be- 
liever, although  the  ground  on  which  his  faith  rests 
would  not  satisfy  a  severer  logician. 

[November  21, 1839.]  1  I  address  this  letter  to  you 
(not  to  you  and  your  husband  jointly,  as  I  have  fre- 
quently done  of  late)  because  I  want  to  tell  you  how 
much  I  am  pleased  with  him,  and  how  happy  I  am  in 
the  choice  you  have  made.  You  easily  guess  that  I  refer 
to  his  conduct  towards  the  poor  widow.  That  was  noble 
—  God  bless  him  !  —  I  feel  proud  of  such  a  son.  I  need 
not  remind  you  that  I  am  rich,  and  that  you,  my  dear 
Anna,  are  one  of  my  assistants  in  the  large  stewardship 
which  God  has  intrusted  to  me. 

[November  28,  1839.]  When  I  wrote  you  last  week 
about  the  arrangement  which  has  made  the  fortunate 

Mrs.  C an  inmate  of  your  domicile  I  merely  looked 

at  the  moral  beauty  of  it.  I  have  since  reflected  that  it 
may  put  Mr.  Clarke  to  serious  inconvenience  to  be  de- 
prived of  his  study.  If  this  be  the  case,  then  I  must  ask 
you,  my  good  children,  to  associate  me  with  you  in  this 
good  work,  and  that  you  on  my  account  rent  from  Mrs. 
H.  another  room  for  your  protegee.  I  would  not  on  any 
account  deprive  the  latter  of  the  consolation  which  your 
arrangement  has  afforded  her  in  her  misfortunes,  nor 
her  unhappy  son  of  the  good  influences  under  which 
he  has  been  thus  brought. 

[December  19,  1839.]  This  moment  I  received 
yours  of  the  14th  inst.,  and  in  return  I  send  you  above 
a  check  on  the  Bank  of  Pittsburg  for  three  hundred 
dollars.  ...  I  thank  you  for  associating  me,  at  least 
in  this  indirect  manner,  in  your  schemes  of  active  bene- 
volence. From  what  Anna  tells  me  I  am  led  to  hope 

that  your  exertions  in  favor  of  Mrs.  H will  prove 

successful,  and  become  permanently  useful  to  her  and 

U          £          'I 

her  family. 

1  To  Anna  Huidekoper  Clarke. 


WITH  THE  YOUNG  HOUSEHOLD  AT  POMONA      275 

When  this  last  case  of  charity  proved  to  be  undeserv- 
ing, he  cheerfully  wrote  that  his  daughter  and  Mr. 
Clarke  must  not  let  that  annoy  or  discourage  them,  and 
adds :  "  You  regret  this  money  because  it  might  have 
been  made  useful  elsewhere.  If  you  want  money  for 
such  a  purpose,  I  have  some  which  is  at  your  service."1 

[December  5,  1839.]  I  am  really  sorry  to  hear  that 
the  stopping  of  the  cotton  factories  at  Lowell  has  caused 
a  temporary  embarrassment  to  Mr.  Clarke's  family.  He 
must  not,  however,  on  this  account,  retain  his  school 
superintendence,  if  he  finds  it  too  laborious.  I  can  with- 
out any  inconvenience  make  to  you  and  him  any  neces- 
sary advances.  Pray  let  him  write  to  me  candidly  on 
this  subject.  Heaven  has  blessed  me  too  much  that  I 
should  suffer  my  children  to  experience  pecuniary  em- 
barrassment. .  .  . 

You  tell  me  that  the  ladies  in  Louisville  complain  that 
Mrs.  C[larke]  is  not  sufficiently  sociable,  and  you  pro- 
mise to  endeavor  to  do  better.  I  think,  if  you  do,  you 
will  find  that  society  will  interest  you  more,  the  more 
you  come  in  contact  with  it.  There  is  much  more  good- 
ness in  the  world  than  we  are  aware  of.  For  the  rest  I 
can  sympathize  with  you.  It  is  hard,  when  we  feel  so 
happy  and  contented  at  home,  to  go  out  and  visit  those 
with  whom  we  perhaps  have  not  a  single  idea  in  com- 
mon. Pray,  my  dear  Ann,  let  me  beg  of  you,  as  you 
value  your  husband's  happiness  and  your  own,  not  to 
commit  the  much  more  serious  fault  of  taking  up  the 
idea  that  you  do  not  make  a  good  wife,  because  you 
are  rather  too  domestic.  Wait  till  you  see  a  cloud  on 
your  husband's  brow  before  you  begin  to  torment  your- 
self with  self  accusations. 

[December  26, 1839.]  I  am  sorry  to  hear  that  al- 
though you  do  not  keep  house  [you  seem]  to  have  be- 
come, to  a  certain  extent,  practically  acquainted  with 

1  Letter  of  February  21, 1840. 


276  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

the  inconveniences  of  slavery.  The  slave  has  not  the  in- 
ducements to  be  industrious  that  the  freeman  has.  If 
he  is  industrious  and  saving,  it  adds  nothing  to  his 
wealth,  and  very  little 'to  his  comfort.  Is  it  then  sur- 
prising that  he  is  lazy  and  wasteful  ?  I  have  never  be- 
come acquainted  with  the  operations  of  slavery,  from 
personal  observation,  except  from  what  I  witnessed  in 
the  State  of  New  York  some  forty  years  ago.  There 
slavery  was  (what  the  Southerners  prate  of,  but  what  it 
is  not  with  them)  a  kind  of  patriarchal  institution.  The 
slave  was  a  member  of  the  family.  He  lived  with  them  ; 
and  the  master  and  his  sons  were  his  fellow  laborers. 
It  was  generally  an  intelligent  old  negro  who  managed 
the  farm.  By  this  arrangement  the  slave  was  raised  in 
the  scale  of  civilization  and  morality,  but  the  civilization 
of  the  whole  family  was  on  a  very  low  scale.  .  .  . 

The  depression  of  business  which  you  experience  in 
Louisville  is  common  to  all  our  commercial  cities,  though 
some  from  peculiar  circumstances  may  feel  the  pressure 
more  than  others  do.  It  is  the  natural  result  of  over- 
trading, and  that,  in  its  turn,  is  the  result  of  our  aban- 
donment of  the  protective  system,  alias  tariff  system ; 
and  of  the  vicious  system  of  banking  which  Jacksonism 
has  substituted  for  the  correct  one  we  had  ten  years 
ago.  That  all  this  must  work  much  commercial  distress, 
and  cause  the  ruin  of  many  in  trade,  is  natural  and  un- 
avoidable. But  I  would  not  consider  this  as  a  legitimate 
objection  to  engaging  in  commercial  business.  The  mer- 
chant, who,  in  this  country,  will  devote  a  lifetime  to  the 
acquisition  of  a  fortune,  and  who  will  in  the  meantime 
live  frugally,  will  almost  always  succeed.  The  man  who 
wants  to  make  a  rapid  fortune  in  a  few  years  and  who  in 
the  meantime  lives  as  if  that  fortune  were  already  made 
will  almost  always  finish  by  becoming  insolvent.  If  I  do 
not  sympathize  with  your  lady  in  her  objection  to  com- 
mercial business,  neither  do  I  agree  with  your  husband 
in  his  prejudice  against  a  professional  life.  It  may  not 
be,  generally  speaking,  the  road  to  wealth,  but  it  is  cer- 


WITH  THE  YOUNG  HOUSEHOLD  AT  POMONA      277 

tainly  the  means  of  being  useful.  I  think  even  your 
husband  will  allow  that  his  life  is  more  useful  to  his 
fellow  men  than  if  it  were  spent  in  raising  corn  or 
potatoes. 

One  other  quotation  from  a  letter  to  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Clarke,  although  of  much  later  date,  may  be  given 
here :  — 

[December  21,  1849.]  We  all  smiled  at  the  appre- 
hension expressed  by  Anna,  on  the  occasion  of  a  couple 
of  small  drafts  sent  to  you,  that  the  love  of  money  might 
injure  you  or  yours.  I  participate  so  little  in  that  fear, 
that  I  shall  enclose  another  draft  for  $90,  if  I  receive  it 
in  time.  I  suspect  that  there  exists  an  erroneous  opinion 
on  this  subject.  The  misery  of  which  Anna  speaks  will, 
if  traced  to  its  source,  be  found  to  arise  not  from  the 
love  of  acquisition,  but  from  habits  of  vicious,  or  at 
least  of  improvident  indulgence.  Look  at  the  public  de- 
faulters and  fraudulent  bankrupts,  and  I  think  that  most 
of  them  will  be  found  to  have  been  persons  of  expensive 
habits,  living  beyond  their  means.  Wealth  is  power,  and 
so  is  knowledge.  Both  are  powers  to  do  good  and  to  be 
useful,  and  both  may  be  perverted,  and  used  for  un- 
worthy purposes.  And  yet  we  do  not  warn  men  against 
the  acquisition  of  knowledge.  Neither  have  I  ever  par- 
ticipated in  the  apprehension  of  injuring  my  children 
by  accumulating  wealth  for  them,  and  they  have  honor- 
ably justified  the  confidence  I  had  in  them,  in  making 
a  noble  use  of  their  means. 


CHAPTER   VIII 

CONCERNING  THE  "ULTRA  SPIRIT  OF  THE  TIMES" 

THE  quarter  of  a  century  or  more  which  followed  the 
rise  of  what  has  been  called  "  Channing  Unitarian isni  " 
witnessed  certain  startling  departures  from  Channing's 
conservative  position.  They  were  the  years  when  Par- 
ker's genius  wrought  its  volcanic  changes  in  the  reli- 
gious life  of  Boston  ;  when  Emerson's  withdrawal  from 
active  ministry  and  his  affirmation  of  the  supreme  value 
of  "  the  inward  life  "  threw  men  at  the  mercy  of  their 
own  consciences.  Moreover,  since  the  agitation  of  the 
time  was  social  as  well  as  religious,  new  theories,  native 
or  imported,  concerning  the  relations  of  capital  and 
labor,  of  master  and  man,  of  man  and  woman,  new 
solutions  of  the  problems  of  daily  living,  everywhere 
pushed  into  view.  Transcendentalism,  Perfectionism,  a 
modified  Fourierism,  Non-resistance,  Total  Abstinence, 
Woman's  Rights,  these  were  a  few  of  the  links  in  the 
"  perfect  chain  of  reforms  .  .  .  emerging  from  the  sur- 
rounding darkness  "  which  Emerson  saw,  and  which 
Mr.  Huidekoper  also  looked  upon,  albeit  with  a  some- 
what doubting  eye.  It  is  scarcely  surprising  that  he 
should  have  written  in  comment,1  "  The  present  is  truly 
a  revolutionary  age.  Men  everywhere  have  lost  that 
blind  veneration  for  the  systems,  the  opinions,  and  the 
institutions  of  former  tunes  which  once  existed,  and 

1  "  Review  of  Brownson  on  the  Laboring  Classes,"  Western  Messenger, 
vol.  viii.  p.  316. 


Harm  Jan  Huidekoper 


CONCERNING  THE  ULTRA  SPIRIT  OF  THE  TIMES    279 

begin  boldly  to  examine  into  their  truth,  or  their  adap- 
tation to  the  present  situation  of  society." 

It  was  not  that  the  significance  of  this  agitation  was 
lost  upon  Mr.  Huidekoper.  He  was  himself  a  part  of  it, 
in  so  far  as  freedom  of  thought  and  hopefulness  for  the 
future  went,  but  his  natural  poise  of  mind  never  allowed 
him  to  lean  unduly  forward.  His  balanced  conservatism 
led  him  to  depend  on  proven  practice  rather  than  on  un- 
tried methods  and  ideas ;  indeed,  his  point  of  vantage, 
somewhat  aloof  as  it  was,  did  often  enable  him  to  dis- 
cern where  the  advancing  body  made  safe  progress,  and 
where  its  extreme  wing  pushed  out  to  unstable  ground. 

"  There  is  something  very  seductive  in  the  spirit  of 
Ultraism,"  he  acknowledged,  as  early  as  1841,  "  which 
has  become  so  prevalent  in  New  England.  It  is  respect- 
able too,  on  account  of  the  source  from  which  it  springs ; 
but,"  he  goes  on  to  say,  "  this  does  not  prevent  its  be- 
ing injurious.  The  established  customs  of  society  are 
generally  the  result  of  experience,  and  not  lightly  to  be 
departed  from.  I  do  not  find  that  the  really  great  and 
good  men  of  former  days  ever  fell  into  this  spirit  of 
petty  innovation."  And  again:  "I  fully  agree  with 
Father  Taylor,  that  there  is  but  one  Boston  in  the  world. 
Nowhere  is  the  human  mind  in  such  a  state  of  fermen- 
tation as  it  is  in  Massachusetts,  and  nowhere  do  its  in- 
quiries run  on  matters  of  deeper  moment.  From  such  a 
state  of  things  we  may  promise  ourselves  much  good  for 
the  future ;  but,  as  a  necessary  consequence,  it  must  for 
the  present  be  accompanied  by  much  of  fanaticism  and 
of  folly,  for  the  development  of  the  rational  and  of  the 
moral  powers  do  not  always  keep  pace  with  each  other 
in  the  same  individual."  * 

1  Letter  to  Mr.  Clarke,  December  26, 1842. 


280  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

Irrational  in  the  extreme  were  to  him  many  of  the 
utterances  of  the  idealists.  He  was  not  in  the  least  within 
the  charmed  circle  that  listened  to  Emerson,  —  he  could 
not  even  read  Emerson.  Nor  would  he  have  been  found 
among  the  participators  in  Margaret  Fuller's  "  conver- 
sations." Some  of  these  afterward  distinguished  people 

he  would  have  ranked  with  "  good  Miss ,"  the  most 

ardent  of  them  all,  of  whom  he  said,  "  I  suspect  she  be- 
longs to  a  class  which  Rousseau  characterizes  as  sage 
par  le  cceur  and  folle  par  la  tete"  1  Others,  like  Bron- 
son  Alcott  and  Orestes  A.  Brownson,  would  have  fallen 
under  a  heavier  judgment.  Of  Alcott,  indeed,  he  had 
absolutely  no  comprehension,  and  he  gave  him  no 
quarter. 

[March  10,  1843.]  "I  cannot  plead  guilty  to  my 
Anna's  charge,  that  I  am  too  hard  on  Messrs.  Alcott, 
Lane  &  Co.  I  beg  her  to  recollect  that  I  do  not  judge 
them  to  be  worthy  of  the  lunatic  asylum  or  house  of 
correction  for  any  opinions  which  they  hold  for  them- 
selves ;  but  because  they  teach  doctrines  which  when 
carried  out  must  lead  to  theft  and  robbery.  If  by  their 
doctrines  they  induce  the  young  and  inexperienced  to 
steal,  it  will  be  no  mitigation  to  the  evil  done  to  society 
that  Messrs.  Alcott  &  Co.  were  simple,  well-meaning 
men." 

His  attitude  toward  all  the  theorists  was  that  of  the 
practical  conservative  ;  their  speech  was  foreign  to  him, 
their  ideas  mere  confusion.  "  I  am  a  good  deal  of  a 
Utilitarian,"  he  declared,  "and  judge  of  men  accord- 
ing to  their  usefulness,  and  when  I  compare  the  course 
of  a  William  Eliot,  a  Father  Taylor,  or  a  Waterston 
with  that  of  an  Emerson,  a  Ripley,  a  Theodore  Parker, 

i  Letter  to  Mrs.  Clarke,  January  1, 1844. 


CONCERNING  THE  ULTRA  SPIRIT  OF  THE  TIMES    281 

a  Brownson,  and  others  of  that  stamp,  I  feel  how  valu- 
able common  sense  and  a  well-regulated  mind  are." l 

The  tone  of  the  "  Western  Messenger  "  at  one  time 
caused  him  some  disquiet.  It  was,  under  W.  H.  Chan- 
ning's sanction,  giving  generous  space  to  a  considera- 
tion of  certain  ideas  which  Mr.  Huidekoper  looked  upon 
as  equally  opposed  to  common  sense  and  safety.  His 
friendship  for  Mr.  Channing  was  warm  and  sincere. 
Deeply  he  appreciated  his  rare  nature  and  exceptional 
gifts.  Ah1  the  more  because  of  his  personal  interest  in 
him  did  he  chafe  at  what  he  called  Channing's  "  consti- 
tutional tendency  toward  the  vague  and  the  mystic."  2 
It  must  be  borne  in  mind,  moreover,  that  the  comments 
which  are  repeated  here  as  throwing  light  upon  Mr. 
Huidekoper's  views  were  made  by  him,  not  in  any  pub- 
lic way,  but  only  in  the  correspondence  with  his  son 
and  daughter,  who  were,  both  of  them,  Mr.  Channing's 
faithful  friends,  and  would  in  no  wise  misunderstand 
the  strictures.  "  I  mentioned  to  you  in  my  former,"  he 
wrote  to  Frederic  (January  7, 1841),  "  that  there  is  just 
now  an  extraordinary  state  of  mental  fermentation  in 
New  England.  I  regret  to  see  by  the  (  Messenger '  that 
our  friend  W.  H.  Channing  appears  to  have  caught  some 
of  the  ultra  spirit  of  the  times.  Not  only  that  he  praises 
Brownson,  but  in  his  last  number  he  has  given  us  the 
principles  of  the  Non-resistance  Society,  under  the  title 
of  '  Great  Principles  for  Consideration/  Now  these  prin- 
ciples, by  preaching  an  equal  distribution  of  property 
and  denying  the  right  to  imprison  any  one,  are  destruc- 
tive of  our  present  social  order." 

Mr.  Channing's  praise  of  Brownson,3  supplemented 

i  Letter  to  Mrs.  Clarke,  February  24, 1845.     a  Ibid.,  August  18,  1841. 
8  Mr.  Lindsay  Swift,  in  his  Brook  Farm,  pp.  241-251,  felicitously  de- 


282  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

by  Brownson's  articles  in  the  "  Quarterly  Review," 
spurred  Mr.  Huidekoper  on  to  publish  in  the  "  Messen- 
ger "  two  papers  entitled  "  Brownson  on  the  Laboring 
Classes." 

"  Mr.  B.'s  avowed  object,"  he  says,  in  the  first  of 
these,1  "is  the  destruction  of  the  whole  present  social 
and  religious  organization  of  society  ;  and  the  proposed 
means  to  effect  this  are,  physical  force,  —  a  war  of  those 
who  have  nothing,  against  those  who  have  something. 
Let  it  not  be  imagined  that  this  plan  is  rendered  harm- 
less by  its  very  extravagance.  It  is  not  addressed  to  the 
intelligent  part  of  society,  but  to  the  passions  and  pre- 
judices of  that  portion  of  the  community  whose  intel- 
lectual powers  have  been  less  developed,  and  which  is 
therefore  more  liable  to  be  misled.  Those  who  have 
studied  the  history  of  the  French  Revolution,  with  the 
attention  which  it  so  richly  deserves,  must  have  observed 
that  all  the  excesses  in  that  great  drama  were  committed 
by  bodies  of  misguided  men,  apparently  not  formidable 
by  their  numbers,  but  rendered  truly  so  by  the  energy 
of  excited  passions.  If  a  Marat,  of  not  half  Mr.  B.'s 
talents  or  popular  eloquence,  could,  by  a  pretended  zeal 
for  the  interests  of  the  lower  classes,  and  by  appeals  to 

scribes  Brownson's  course  through  Presbyterianism,  Universalism,  and 
Unitarianism  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  and  says  (p.  244),  "  In  1840 
Brownson  awoke  and  found  himself  conspicuous,  if  not  famous.  Allied 
for  several  reasons  with  the  Democratic  Party,  he  wrote  in  that  year  an 
essay  on  the  laboring  classes,  in  which  he  suggested  the  impairment,  by 
political  methods,  of  corporations  and  of  the  credit  system.  The  Whigs, 
displaying  an  unexpected  energy,  printed  his  paper  as  a  campaign  docu- 
ment. The  publication  of  this  essay  may  have  acted  as  a  boomerang  on 
his  party,  but  it  did  Orestes  Brownson  a  deal  of  good.  It  refreshed  him 
as  the  deliverance  from  the  Everlasting  Nay  refreshed  Teufelsdrockh, 
and  marked,  as  he  says,  '  the  crisis  in  my  mental  disease.'  " 
1  Western  Messenger,  vol.  viii.  pp.  316-330. 


CONCERNING  THE  ULTRA  SPIRIT  OF  THE  TIMES    283 

their  prejudices  and  passions,  acquire  such  a  dreadful 
ascendancy  over  them,  who  will  deny  that  Mr.  B.  may, 
by  the  same  means,  acquire  a  similar  influence  over  the 
same  order  of  society  ?  " 

Mr.  Huidekoper's  reply 2  to  the  second  article  by 
Brownson  concludes:  "  My  motive  in  thus  reviewing 
these  articles  has  been  to  prevent  the  laboring  classes 
from  being  misled  by  them.  I  would  save  them  from 
the  misfortune  of  learning  to  look  upon  their  employ- 
ers, upon  religion,  and  upon  its  ministers,  as  their  nat- 
ural enemies ;  I  would  save  them  from  the  misery  of  a 
discontented  spirit ;  I  would  save  them  from  the  delusion 
of  looking  to  social  reform  for  the  amelioration  of  their 
condition,  instead  of  relying  on  the  resources  within 
themselves, —  industry,  economy,  sobriety  and  prudence ; 
and  I  would  save  society  from  having  formed  within  its 
bosom  associations  of  discontented,  reckless  men,  who, 
under  the  influence  of  designing  demagogues,  might 
become  dangerous  to  its  peace." 

William  Henry  Channing,  it  must  be  confessed,  had 
at  this  time  swung  far  beyond  Mr.  Huidekoper's  ken 
in  speculative  thought  and  acknowledgment  of  strange 
gods.  His  eloquence  called  out  high  commendation. 

I  have  always  [wrote  his  critic,  January  22,  1844] 
taken  a  sincere  interest  in  him,  and  I  have  regretted 

1  "  The  history  of  the  French  Revolution  is  not  studied  in  this  coun- 
try as  much  as  it  deserves  to  be.  It  is  replete  with  valuable  instruction. 
If,  instead  of  bewildering  ourselves  with  idle  speculations,  bottomed  on 
imaginary  first  principles,  we  would  learn  to  study  politics  in  the  great 
drama  of  life,  we  should  arrive  at  much  safer  and  more  satisfactory  re- 
sults, and  be  plagued  with  fewer  wild  and  dangerous  theories.  This  would 
also  assist  us  to  distinguish  the  real  patriot  from  the  mere  demagogue 
and  pretended  friend  of  the  people."  [Mr.  Huidekoper's  foot-note.] 

3  Western  Messenger,  vol.  viii.  pp.  433-449. 


284  HARM  JAN   HUIDEKOPER 

that  his  course  for  some  years  was  not  such  as  was  cal- 
culated to  render  him  in  the  highest  degree  useful.  All 
appear  to  concur  that,  as  a  public  speaker,  our  friend  is 
wonderfully  impressive.  Here,  then,  is  his  forte.  Why 
not  stick  to  the  pulpit  and  let  the  press  alone?  Or,  if 
he  must  write,  why  not  print  his  own  writings,  and  not 
make  himself  the  vehicle  for  circulating  the  crude  ex- 

O 

travagancies  of  others?  Remember  me  kindly  to  him 
when  you  see  him. 

In  1844  Mr.  Channing  was  connected  with  a  peri- 
odical called  "  The  Present,"  and  of  this  Mr.  Huide- 
koper  wrote  to  Mrs.  Clarke  [January  1,  1844]  :  — 

I  can  understand  plain  English  tolerably  well,  but 
much  of  what  appears  in  "  The  Present "  is  written  in 
Irving's  unknown  tongues,  and  those  I  do  not  under- 
stand. .  .  .  How  Channing  could  consent  to  insert  such 
a  piece  of  Fanny  Wrightism  *  as  the  article  on  Woman 
in  his  last  number,  I  cannot  conceive.  I  was  glad  to  see 
that  Greeley  took  him  to  task  for  it. 

And  again  : 2  — 

I  received  the  January  number  of  "  The  Present," 
and  am  as  little  pleased  with  it  as  Anna  appears  to 
be.  Not  that  I  have  read  it.  But  I  have  looked  into 
it,  and  satisfied  myself  as  to  its  contents.  Feeling 
in  full  charity  with  my  friend  W.  H.  C.  when  the  pre- 

1  "  Fanny  Wrightism  "  seems  to  have  been  a  favorite  charge  brought 
against  reformers  or  innovators.  Thus  Garrison  was,  by  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Dicky,  "accused  ...  of  Fanny  Wrightism,  —  of  advocating  the  equal 
division  of  property,  the  prostration  of  all  law,  the  abrogation  of  mar- 
riage." (  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  the  Story  of  his  Life,  told  by  his  Children, 
vol.  ii.  p.  249.)  Frances  Wright  was  "  born  in  Scotland,  September  6, 
1795,  died  (Mme.  Darusmont)  in  Cincinnati,  December  14,  1852.  Her 
attempted  community  in  Shelby  Co.,  Tennessee,  in  1825,  was  a  notablo 
early  anti-slavery  enterprise.  She  was  ...  a  socialistic  co-worker  with 
Robert  Owen,  and  a  co-editor  with  Robert  Dale  Owen  of  the  New  York 
Free  Inquirer."  (Ibid.,  vol.  ii.  p.  142.) 

8  Letter  of  January  29,  1844. 


CONCERNING  THE  ULTRA  SPIRIT  OF  THE  TIMES    285 

sent  number  arrived,  I  undertook  to  read  the  leading 
article  on  Thanksgiving  and  New  Year  wishes  ;  but  I 
found  that  it  would  not  do.  After  wading  through  the 
introductory  part,  which  is  neither  prose  nor  poetry,  I 
got  to  the  causes  we  have  for  being  thankful  (beginning 
near  the  bottom  of  page  219),  and  with  the  first  of  these 
I  gave  out,  finding  it  hopeless  to  make  out  a  rational 
meaning  from  such  a  rhapsody.  He  begins  by  stating 
that  we  owe  thanks  first  for  our  existence,  and  this  is 
about  the  only  rational  sentence  I  find  in  the  whole  sec- 
tion. With  Walker  and  Johnson,  I  had  considered  the 
words  existence  and  being  as  convertible  terms.  W.  H. 
C.  tells  us  they  are  opposite.  He  next  tells  us  that  the 
Infinite  One,  and  the  temporal  finite,  marry,  are  coun- 
terparts, and  that  smacks  something  of  Pantheism.  We 
are  next  told  that  this  universe  is  only  the  substantial 
world  of  God's  ideas,  and  this  brings  us  back  to  Pla- 
tonism,  according  to  which  there  exists  in  the  Divine 
mind  a  pattern  in  conformity  to  which  everything  was 
created.  Mr.  C.  continues :  From  this  awful  reality  do 
we  come,  &c.  —  Now  from  his  having  first  stated  non- 
existence  or  nothing  to  be  an  unmeaning  term,  I  can 
give  no  other  meaning  to  this  sentence  than  that  C., 
with  some  Eastern  philosophers,  believes  in  the  pre- 
existence  of  the  Soul.  We  have  next  something  about 
the  self-imposed  necessity  of  the  Deity,  and  some  ex- 
pressions from  which  we  might  infer  the  creation  to  be 
eternal,  and  that  it  results  not  from  a  voluntary,  but 
from  a  necessary  act  of  the  Creator.  But  I  feel  that  it 
would  be  unsafe,  and  perhaps  unfair,  to  carry  out  what 
our  friend  says  to  its  legitimate  results.  And  now,  is  it 
not  a  pity  that  so  worthy  a  man  should  waste  his  life  in 
this  useless  manner  ?  Contrast  his  writings  with  those  of 
his  uncle,1  the  Wares,  Greenwood,  the  Peabodys  and 
others,  and  there  is  not  one  who  expresses  himself  as 
our  friend.  If  it  were  not  for  what  you  write  to  me  re- 
specting him  I  should  sometimes  doubt  his  sanity,  as  I 

1  The  well-known  Dr.  William  Ellery  Channing. 


286  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

do  the  sanity  of  Emerson.  In  "  Bancroft's  Hist.  U.  S.," 
pages  144  &  145,  you  will  find  something  which  has  a 
strong  bearing  on  the  socialism  mania  of  the  day. 

The  close  of  Mr.  Channing's  brief  editorship  elicited 
the  comment :  — 

[April  15,  1844.]  « I  am  glad  to  hear  that  W.  H. 
Channing  is  about  relinquishing  his  connection  with 
1  The  Present.'  The  moment  he  does  I  purpose  doing 
so  too,  by  discontinuing  my  subscription.  I  feel  as  if  I 
were  not  doing  right  by  contributing  towards  the  vaga- 
ries of  Alcott  and  Haywood  among  the  community.  As 
to  Channing's  contributions,  in  regard  to  them  I  felt  not 
the  same  scruples,  not  only  because  they  were  better  in 
themselves,  but  also  because  they  were  very  little  intel- 
ligible." 

If  Mr.  Channing  was  not  "  intelligible "  to  his  old 
friend,  the  transcendentalists  in  general  were  still  less 
so.  Mr.  Huidekoper's  great  respect  for  some  of  their 
number,  as  well  as  the  impossibility  of  discovering  just 
what  transcendentalism  was,  tempered  sensibly  his  utter- 
ances concerning  them.  Yet  he  was  not  a  little  bewil- 
dered by  the  hospitable  if  transient  entertainment  given 
by  Mr.  Clarke  and  his  friends  to  "  the  theoretical 
vagaries  "  and  "  novelties,"  1  with  which  the  times  were 
rife.  We  find  him  turning  with  a  sense  of  relief  from 
his  contemplation  of  the  scene  in  the  East  to  his  son 
Frederic,  who  remained  absolutely  undazzled  by  any  of 
the  iridescent  refractions  of  the  day.  In  the  letter  to 
Frederic,  of  January  7,  1841,  he  says  :  — 

In  regard  to  transcendentalism,  I  find  we  think  pretty 
much  alike.  The  fact  is  that  I  have  never  been  able  to 
ascertain  with  precision  what  meaning  is  to  be  attached 

1  Dr.  Hale's  word. 


CONCERNING  THE  ULTRA  SPIRIT  OF  THE  TIMES    287 

to  it.  J.  F.  Clarke  (who  is  classed  with  the  transcen- 
dentalists)  defines  it  as  the  belief  that  all  our  ideas  are 
not  (as  Mr.  Locke  held)  derived  through  the  senses,  but 
that  some  ideas  are  independent  of  them.  I  believe  it 
is  a  return  to  the  system  of  innate  ideas.  Among  the 
ideas  thus  supposed  to  be  innate  is  the  idea  of  God  and 
of  religion.  Clarke  holds  that  though  those  ideas  are 
innate,  yet  that  it  requires  extraneous  teaching,  such  as 
revelation,  religion,  instruction,  &c.,  to  develop  them. 
This  reduces  these  ideas  to  a  mere  capability  of  receiving 
religious  instruction.  Others  carry  the  system  much  far- 
ther, and  give  to  these  ideas  a  power  and  development 
which  renders  revelation  superfluous.  It  is  this  that  has 
alarmed  Mr.  Norton  and  others.  I  can,  however,  per- 
ceive no  necessary  connection  between  transcendentalism 
and  pantheism  ;  and  the  question  whether  Spinoza  was 
an  atheist  or  a  pantheist  appears  to  me  to  be  a  mere 
historical  question  of  very  little  interest  to  us  at  this 
time. 

As  a  member  of  "  Hedge's  Club,"  l  as  an  investigator 
of  contemporary  German  literature,  as  an  inquirer  into 
all  the  schemes  for  a  new  social  order  which  teemed  in 
the  inventive  Yankee  brain,  James  Freeman  Clarke  was 
in  thorough  accord  with  the  circle  represented  by  the 
"  Dial."  His  pulpit  was  open  to  Parker,  his  assent  to 
Emerson.  He  was,  as  Mr.  Huidekoper  has  intimated,  as 
much  as  any  one  a  transcendentalist.  Yet  although  he 
thus  sat  high  above  the  salt  at  New  England's  feast  of 
reason,  his  strong  head  was  proof  against  an  undue  flow 
of  soul.  His  people,  the  independent  congregation  which 
he  had  gathered  about  him  through  sheer  force  of  lead- 
ership, idolized  him ;  and  Mr.  Huidekoper  watched  the 
building  up  of  the  Boston  society,  the  Church  of  the 
Disciples,  with  great  satisfaction.  He  wrote  to  his 

1  Brook  Farm,  by  Lindsay  Swift,  page  8. 


288  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPEB 

daughter  (August  18,  1841) :  "  As  I  take  a  father's  in- 
terest in  all  that  concerns  James,  I  am  happy  to  learn 
that  his  efforts  to  build  up  a  new  society  continue  to 
meet  with  success.  I  hope  this  will  continue  to  be  the 
case  until  his  society  shall  be  permanently  established, 
for  I  am  not  one  of  those  who,  with  Miss  Peabody  and 
others,  believe  that  mankind  can  as  yet  do  without  an 
outward  and  visible  church.  Of  all  the  theoretical  vaga- 
ries of  the  day,  this  appears  to  me  to  be  one  of  the  most 
extravagant.  Suppose  Miss  P.  and  a  few  other  good  in- 
tellectual people  can  do  without  the  aid  of  public  wor- 
ship, it  does  not  follow  that  the  rest  of  the  community 
can.  You  and  Alfred  can  read  without  spectacles,  but 
even  Miss  P.  would  admit  it  to  be  bad  reasoning,  if  I  on 
that  account  insisted  that  she  must  dispense  with  the 
use  of  glasses.  I  have  seen  the  experiment  of  doing 
without  public  worship  tried  ;  and  I  wish  that  those  who 
recommend  it  for  general  adoption  should  first  go  to 
one  of  our  new  southwestern  settlements,  to  see  how  it 
works." 

Brook  Farm  he  treated  with  gentle  irony.  In  this 
same  letter  he  remarks :  "  I  am  glad  to  learn  that  \Vm. 
[H.]  Channing  has  not  entered  that  hospital  of  invalids 
yclept  the  Community  (Brook  Farm),  and  I  hope  he 
never  will.  ...  I  pity  my  friend  Dwight  from  the  bot- 
tom of  my  heart.  What  will  he  do  at  the  Community  ? 
He  has  no  physical  strength  to  live  by  bodily  labors ; 
and  besides  he  will  find  little  of  poetry  in  practical  agri- 
cultural operations."  And  in  another  letter  (September 
16,  1841)  :  "Miss  Peabody's  description  of  the  Com- 
munity interested  me  less  than  would  at  the  end  of  the 
year  the  page  of  Mr.  Ripley's  ledger  in  which  the  ac- 
counts of  the  experiments  in  socialism  are  kept.  If 


CONCERNING  THE  ULTRA  SPIRIT  OF  THE  TIMES    289 

James  learns  what  is  the  result  of  this  experiment,  I 
shall  be  glad  if  you  will  tell  me." 

James  Freeman  Clarke's  society  gathered  to  itself 
goodly  numbers  and  prospered  smoothly  until  1845, 
when  the  commotion  raised  by  Theodore  Parker's  het- 
erodoxy was  at  its  height.  At  the  very  time  when 
the  outcry  against  Parker  was  the  loudest,  Mr.  Clarke 
exchanged  with  him.  "  Black  Sunday "  the  day  of  ex- 
change was  set  down  in  his  diary.  It  was  January  26, 
—  and  black  indeed  it  looked  to  a  large  part  of  his  con- 
gregation, fifteen  of  whom  withdrew  and  formed  a  new 
church  of  their  own,  and  the  Boston  Unitarians  in  gen- 
eral resented  Mr.  Clarke's  liberality.  Mr.  Huidekoper, 
indeed,  was  troubled  by  it.  He  had  been  reconciled,  he 
said,  to  the  distance  that  separated  him  from  his  daugh- 
ter, because  he  had  seen  the  wonderful  success  of  Mr. 
Clarke's  work,  and  realized  the  good  he  was  doing. 
"  James  had  collected  perhaps  the  best  society  existing 
in  Boston,  at  least  such  the  late  Henry  Ware  pronounced 
it  to  be.  Into  that  society  James  had  infused  a  high 
devotional  spirit,  and,  in  return  for  the  good  he  had 
done  them,  he  possessed  the  esteem  and  affection  of 
his  society  to  a  perhaps  unprecedented  degree."  His 
own  sacrifice  and  Mr.  Clarke's  endeavors  seemed  to  him 
about  to  come  to  naught.  "  And  now  to  see  that  har- 
mony disturbed  and  all  James's  mighty  influence  for 
good  jeopardized  is  really  painful  to  me.  That  James 
in  all  this  matter  has  acted  from  principle  I  feel  per- 
fectly convinced  of,  but  this  does  not  essentially  affect 
the  result.  What  that  result  will  be  I  cannot  foresee. 
Should  it  be  a  dissolution  of  the  connection  between 
James  and  his  society  (an  event  which  I  pray  God  in 
his  mercy  to  avert),  I  then  ask  that  James  do  not  form 


290  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

any  permanent  engagement  until  you  can  hear  from  me. 
I  hope  and  trust,  however,  that  this  storm  will  subside."1 

With  regard  to  Theodore  Parker  his  position  was 
clear.  The  term  Christian  he  could  not  apply  to  Parker. 

To  the  Clarkes  he  wrote  again  (February  14,  1845) : 

"  When  Mr.  Parker  declares  himself  to  be  a  Chris- 
tian, does  he  use  this  word  according  to  its  common  ac- 
ceptation, or  has  he  attached  to  it  a  new  and  altogether 
arbitrary  meaning  ?  I  think  that  he  has  done  the  latter, 
and  that  therefore  he  does  not  fall  within  the  rule  as 
laid  down.  That,  in  common  cases,  we  have  no  right  to 
inquire  whether,  when  a  man  declares  himself  to  be  a 
Christian,  he  attaches  to  that  term  precisely  the  same 
ideas  as  we  do,  I  freely  admit.  But  Mr.  P.  has  taken 
his  case  out  of  the  common  rule ;  and  besides,  there  is 
a  fundamental  doctrine  laid  down  in  the  gospels,  con- 
cerning which  all  who  bear  the  name  of  Christians  are 
agreed,  namely  :  that  Jesus  of  Nazareth  is  the  Christ ; 
and  it  is  the  belief  in  this  fundamental  article  of  faith 
which  has,  from  the  beginning,  been  considered  as  ne- 
cessary to  constitute  a  man  a  Christian.  Now  Mr.  P.  has 
published  sundry  books  in  which  he  has  given  an  ex- 
position of  his  opinions,  and,  if  the  extracts  from  these 
books  which  I  have  seen  are  to  be  depended  on,  he  has 
there  declared  that  he  does  not  believe  in  Jesus  of  Naz- 
areth as  the  Christ,  the  authorized  messenger  of  God  ; 
but  that  he  considers  him  as  a  common  man,  liable 
like  other  men  to  be  mistaken  ;  and  that  he  gives  the 
name  of  Christianity  to  a  system  which,  according  to 
Mr.  P.,  was  long  anterior  to  Christ,  and  so  entirely  in- 
dependent of  him  that  it  would  have  existed  just  as 

i  Letter  of  February  12,  1845. 


CONCERNING  THE  ULTRA  SPIRIT  OF  THE  TIMES    291 

well  if  Christ  had  never  been  born.    Now,  this  appears 
to  me  to  be  simple  Deism." 

Deism,  Pantheism,  —  what  pitfalls  the  words  repre- 
sented !  And  Mr.  Huidekoper  in  turn  had  been  sus- 
pected of  falling  into  the  snare.  "  I  was  almost  amused 
by  finding  myself  classed  among  the  Pantheists  in  an 
article  which  appeared  recently  in  the  '  Christian  Re- 
gister '  over  the  signature  of  S.  F.,  and  that  because  I 
believe  in  the  all-pervading  agency  of  God.  Mr.  S.  F. 
appears  to  me  to  be  neither  a  very  profound  thinker  nor 
a  very  good  reasoner,  and  as  this  attacks  my  favourite 
article  of  faith,  I  should  feel  tempted  to  review  S.  F.'s 
article  if  I  lived  at  Boston  and  not  700  miles  off.  Mr. 
S.  F.'s  assertions,  that  the  Pantheism  which  deifies  ah1 
that  exists  is  equally  injurious  with  that  which  reduces 
God  to  a  mere  power  inherent  in  nature  appears  to  me 
to  be  an  extravagancy ;  and  his  subsequent  assertion, 
that  the  belief  in  the  constant  all  pervading  operations 
of  God  involves  a  denial  of  the  existence  of  nature  or 
the  creation,  I  know  to  be  unfounded,  for  I  firmly  be- 
lieve in  this  all  pervading  Providence,  and  I  also  firmly 
believe  in  my  own  existence,  and  in  the  existence  of 
things  around  me.  I  suspect  some  men  bewilder  them- 
selves with  their  metaphysics,  and  then  write  on  sub- 
jects which  they  have  not  sufficiently  considered  in  their 
several  bearings."  l 

It  was  give  and  take  on  every  side,  and  the  scent  of 
the  fray  was  dear  to  the  nostril  even  when  its  invitation 
was  but  the  breath  of  the  east  wind  suggesting  Anni- 
versary Week.  "I  hope  to  be  at  Boston  during  the 
week  of  the  meetings,  and  I  shall  then  have  an  oppor- 

1  Letter  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Clarke,  December  13, 1844. 


292  HARM  JAN   HUIDEKOPER 

tunity  of  hearing  all  about  the  various  projects  now  in 
agitation  for  curing  all  the  moral  and  social  evils  of  the 
community.  Perhaps  I  may  then  also  be  able  to  find  out 
how  it  happens  that  all  these  new  lights,  whether  anti- 
slavery  men,  non-resistants,  or  socialists,  appear  to  bear 
so  much  ill  will  towards  the  clergy.  With  them  the 
clergy  appear  to  be  the  scape-goats  on  whom  the  sins  of 
the  whole  community  are  to  be  loaded."  1 

The  terrible  pressure  of  the  anti-slavery  cause,  the 
immediateness  of  its  appeal,  was  fast  lifting  it  to  a 
rank  above  all  other  reforms  in  the  controversial  arena. 
It  was  the  major  conflict  which  bore  onward  for  a  sea- 
son, under  Garrison's  strong  leadership,  various  weaker 
struggles,  all  to  be  submerged,  later,  in  the  on-rush  of 
actual  war.  It  was  in  1844  that  Garrison's  "  No  Union 
with  Slave-holders  "  became  the  burning  topic  for  dis- 
cussion. The  New  England  Anti-slavery  Convention 
held  its  meetings  that  year  in  the  Marlboro  Chapel  in 
Boston,  and,  on  the  28th  of  May,  adopted  by  a  vote 
of  two  hundred  and  fifty  against  twenty-four  resolu- 
tions embodying  the  disunion  doctrine. 

Mr.  Huidekoper  had  never  come  under  Garrison's  in- 
fluence. While  uncompromisingly  an  anti-slavery  man, 
he  could  not  stand  even  by  the  side  of  James  Free- 
man Clarke  as  an  abolitionist.  He  fully  believed,  at 
this  time,  at  least,  that  mild  methods  and  the  natural 
progress  of  events  would  bring  about  the  desired 
change. 

[December  21,  1846.]  "  If  Mr.  Vaughn  undertakes 
to  publish  an  anti-slavery  paper  in  Kentucky,  I  hope  he 
will  be  more  moderate  and  prudent  than  C.  M.  Clay.  I 
do  not  believe  that  it  is  best  to  make  people  angry  in 

1  Letter  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Clarke,  April  22,  1844. 


CONCERNING  THE  ULTRA  SPIRIT  OF  THE  TIMES    293 

order  to  convince  them,  or  to  win  them  over  to  our 
opinions.  It  appears  to  me  that  the  anti-slavery  appeals 
are  not  judiciously  addressed  to  the  proper  motives.  If, 
instead  of  presenting  slave-holding  as  sinful,  it  was  re- 
presented as  injurious  in  a  pecuniary  and  social  view, 
both  to  the  slaveholder  and  the  community,  the  repre- 
sentations would  produce  more  effect.  It  is  a  difficult 
matter  to  persuade  a  slaveholder  who  treats  his  slaves 
kindly  that  he  is  committing  a  sin  by  keeping  slaves, 
especially  when  the  laws  of  his  state  do  not  permit  him 
to  manumit  them,  and  when  his  only  way  to  get  rid  of 
his  connection  with  slavery  is  to  transfer  his  slaves  to 
another  master  who  perhaps  might  treat  them  less 
kindly.  But  it  appears  to  me  more  easy  to  convince 
such  an  one  that  it  is  more  advantageous  to  use  free 
than  slave  labor."  l 

Here  was  in  action  the  same  dislike  of  "abstrac- 
tions "  to  which  he  has  already  confessed.  The  aboli- 
tionists, with  their  insistence  upon  abstract  principles, 
left  him  unmoved.  He  looked  in  imagination  upon  the 
practical  application  of  these  principles  to  the  case  in 
hand,  to  the  life  of  the  South,  to  the  relations  between 
South  and  North,  and  foresaw  disaster.  All  his  old- 
world  dread  of  revolution  and  violence,  all  his  experi- 
ence of  men  and  their  suffering,  rose  in  protest  against 
the  splendid  recklessness  of  driving  the  ploughshare  of 
abstract  right  straight  through  the  homes  of  half  a 
nation.  He  would  proceed  by  law  and  in  order. 

In  a  letter  of  September  27,  1847,  he  advanced  to 
the  support  of  Dr.  Gannett  and  others,  whose  conser- 
vatism was  drawing  upon  them  the  reproaches  of  the 
"  Christian  World :  "  — 

1  Letter  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  James  Freeman  Clarke. 


294  .  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

On  the  day  I  left  Philadelphia  I  met  with  a  very  in- 
teresting man  from  the  eastern  shore  of  Maryland,  who, 
on  his  part,  appeared  pleased  with  me.  From  his  garb, 
and  other  indicia,  I  took  him  to  be  a  clergyman.  He 
was  a  slaveholder  by  birth ;  had  occasionally  purchased 
a  slave  to  prevent  families  from  being  separated,  was  a 
declared  anti-slavery  man,  and  had  shown  his  sincerity 
by  manumitting  one  of  his  female  slaves,  who  had  found 
a  prospect  of  establishing  herself  in  New  York.  He  ex- 
pressed his  willingness  to  manumit  every  slave  he  had 
the  moment  it  could  be  done  to  their  good,  but  declared 
that  in  the  present  state  of  things  such  manumission 
would  be  injurious  to  them,  as  it  would  withdraw  them 
from  a  situation  where  both  their  physical  and  moral 
well  being  were  duly  cared  for,  to  consign  them  to  the 
condition  of  free  blacks  in  a  slave  State,  which  he  re- 
presented as  one  of  extreme  degradation  both  in  a  moral 
and  physical  point  of  view.  For  the  rest,  he  much  ap- 
proved of  a  plan  of  gradual  and  prospective  emancipa- 
tion such  as  had  formerly  been  adopted  in  New  York, 
New  Jersey,  &c.,  and  expressed  a  hope  that,  as  slave- 
holding  was  found  to  be  a  ruinous  concern,  some  means 
would  soon  be  adopted  to  free  Maryland  from  this  curse. 
He,  however,  expressed  the  universal  Southern  senti- 
ment, that  the  violence  of  the  Northern  abolitionists  has 
retarded  emancipation. 

That  the  free  blacks  should  be  in  a  state  of  greater 
degradation  than  the  slaves,  may  appear  strange  at  first 
view,  and  yet,  on  second  consideration,  it  is  not  strange 
that  men  without  the  means  of  instruction,  and  for 
whom  no  one  cares,  should  be  more  degraded  than 
others  who,  even  in  an  unfavourable  situation,  are  under 
better  influences.  On  this  subject  a  couple  of  facts  have 
come  to  my  knowledge  which  appear  to  me  to  have  a 
strong  bearing  on  it.  In  1834  I  visited  the  state  prison 
at  Charleston  [Charlestown?].  At  that  time  the  colored 
prisoners  bore  to  the  white  the  proportion  of  one  to  six, 
while  in  the  census  of  1830  the  relative  proportion  of 


CONCERNING  THE  ULTRA  SPIRIT  OF  THE  TIMES    295 

the  coloured  population  was  to  the  whites  as  one  to 
eighty-six.  According  to  this  ratio  of  an  equal  number 
of  whites  and  blacks  there  would  be  fourteen  of  the  lat- 
ter in  the  State  prison  to  one  of  the  former.  On  my  late 
passage  through  Auburn,  I  found  the  ratio  between  the 
black  and  white  prisoners  nearly  the  same  as  at  Charles- 
ton [Charlestown  ?]  in  1834.  Surely  this  indicates  a 
moral  condition  of  the  colored  population  which  de- 
serves to  be  considered  in  anti-slavery  movements ;  and 
shows  also  the  extent  to  which  our  pseudo  reformers  are 
carried  by  their  abstractions,  when  Mr.  Greeley  and  his 
coadjutors  strove  hard  to  extend  the  elective  franchises 
to  this  class  of  men. 

While  on  the  subject  of  abolition,  I  would  beg  of 
James,  as  soon  as  he  becomes  the  editor  of  the  "  Chris- 
tian World,"  to  put  at  once  a  stop  to  the  attacks  which 
of  late  have  been  made  in  that  paper  on  Messrs.  Dewey, 
Gannett  &  Parkman,  whose  only  crime  appears  to  be 
that  they  doubt  the  expediency  of  the  course  pursued 
by  Messrs.  Garrison,  Douglas,  May,  Jr.,  and  others.  If 
our  Christian  liberty  is  to  be  limited  to  the  right  of 
thinking  and  acting  as  prescribed  by  these  reformers,  it 
is  merely  a  kind  of  democratic  right  of  going  in  the 
political  traces  quietly  and  without  kicking.  I  think  the 
most  strenuous  conservatives  allow  a  rather  greater  share 
of  individual  liberty  of  opinion. 

Still,  it  is  evident  that  as  the  situation  became  graver 
he  drew  to  a  more  advanced  position.  "  Yesterday  was 
the  day  for  the  great  Van  Buren  convention  at  Buffalo, 
and  I  am  with  some  interest  awaiting  to  learn  the  re- 
sult. That  men  should  place  at  the  head  of  the  Liberty 
party  a  man  whose  subserviency  to  the  South  during  the 
whole  of  his  administration  has  been  notorious,  and  who 
was  a  party  to  that  infamous  conspiracy  to  kidnap  the 
Amisted  negroes  and  send  them  back  to  Cuba,  shows 
how  easily  men  suffer  themselves  to  be  gulled.  I  hope, 


296  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

however,  that  this  new  party  will  do  good.  It  will  as- 
sist in  saving  us  from  Cass,  and  an  extension  of  slavery. 
I  should  not  be  surprised  if  the  admission  of  Texas 
should,  in  the  hands  of  Providence,  become  a  means  of 
abolishing  slavery."  1 

Many  a  discussion  did  he  have  with  James  Freeman 
Clarke  on  the  subject  of  obeying  the  Fugitive  Slave 
Law.  He  could  not  for  some  time  after  it  was  passed 
accept  the  idea  that  it  could  be  his  duty  to  become  a 
law-breaker.  Yet  one  or  two  incidents  show  that  his 
attitude  was  to  be  accounted  for,  in  part  at  least,  by 
the  fact  that  he  had  never  come  in  actual  contact  with 
slavery ;  and  that  he  could  not  for  a  moment  maintain 
that  attitude  when  faced  by  a  direct  appeal  to  his  sym- 
pathy. One  day,  his  granddaughter  says,  Mr.  Huide- 
koper  and  Mr.  Clarke,  while  out  driving  together  upon 
one  of  the  country  roads,  were  deep  in  one  of  these  very 
discussions,  and  Mr.  Huidekoper  was  strenuously  hold- 
ing to  the  position  that  it  was  dangerous  to  teach  that 
the  law  ought  to  be  disobeyed.  At  that  instant,  at  a 
turn  in  the  road,  they  suddenly  met  a  party  of  fugitives, 
just  escaped  from  the  South  and  hurrying  on  their  way 
to  Canada.  Mr.  Huidekoper  stopped  his  horse  and  ques- 
tioned them ;  and  when  he  drove  on  all  the  money  that 
he  had  had  in  his  pockets  had  somehow  found  its  way 
to  theirs.2 

His  grandson,  General  H.  S.  Huidekoper,  who  fought 
in  the  war  for  the  Union,  and  lost  his  right  arm  for 
the  cause  at  Gettysburg,  distinctly  remembers  a  day 
shortly  after  the  passage  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law, 
when,  walking  on  the  street  with  his  grandfather,  they 

1  Letter  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  James  Freeman  Clarke,  August  10,  1848, 
1  See, also,  Anti-Slavery  Day*, by  James  Freeman  Clarke. 


CONCERNING  THE  ULTRA  SPIRIT  OF  THE  TIMES    297 

met  a  party  of  terrified  negroes  moving  further  north- 
ward. A  deep  impression  was  made  on  the  boy  when  he 
saw  his  grandfather  encouraging  with  liberal  purse  the 
poor  creatures  that  were  making  a  second  escape,  this 
time  from  the  Northern  states  to  Canada.  "His  big 
heart,"  says  General  Huidekoper,  "  beat  quickly  at  the 
wrong,  and  my  little  heart,  as  he  gave  me  half  dollars  to 
hand  to  some  other  members  of  the  fugitive  party,  drew 
in  abolitionism  which  culminated  in  the  sixties  and  had 
much  to  do  with  my  interest  in  the  war  of  the  Rebel- 
lion." Tradition  has  it,  also,  that  Mr.  Huidekoper  was 
in  the  habit  of  furnishing  money  to  Mr.  Randolph, 
whose  home  was  a  regular  station  on  the  underground 
railroad,  and  that  many  a  runaway —  for  Meadville  was 
on  the  direct  route  to  Buffalo  and  thence  to  Canada  — 
was  helped  to  freedom  by  his  generous  hand.  His  great 
tenderness  of  heart  could  not  let  it  be  otherwise.  His 
granddaughter  affirms  that  he  "  never  was  able  to  read 
Uncle  Tom's  Cabin,  because  the  pain  and  cruelty  de- 
scribed in  it  distressed  him.  He  read  the  beginning,  but 
when  he  came  to  the  separation  threatened  between  Tom 
and  his  wife  and  children,  he  quietly  laid  down  the  book 
and  did  not  ever  take  it  up  again." 


CHAPTER  IX 

INDIAN  SUMMER 

As  time  went  on,  and  the  circle  widened  to  include  new 
members  brought  into  it  by  marriage,  while  new  inter- 
ests opened  for  all,  one  shadow  fell  upon  Pomona  and 
upon  those  who  had  shared  its  brighter  days.  Mrs. 
Huidekoper,  who  with  the  advance  of  age  had  grad- 
ually succumbed  to  a  gentle  iiivalidism,  quietly  loosened 
her  hold  upon  the  world  and  slipped  away. 

She  died  on  the  22d  of  October,  1839.  On  the  26th 
Mr.  Huidekoper  wrote  to  his  daughter :  — 

It  has  never  happened  before,  my  dear  Anna,  that  I 
felt  any  reluctance  to  taking  up  my  pen  to  write  to  you. 
It  is  the  case  now,  my  dear  daughter,  because  I  feel 
that  what  I  shall  say  will  reopen  a  wound  which  is  still 
fresh  and  bleeding.  But  why  should  we  not  talk  of  her 
who  at  this  moment  is  almost  the  exclusive  subject  of 
our  thoughts?  Why  should  we  not  pour  out  our  hearts 
to  each  other,  and  mingle  our  tears  for  a  loss  which  to 
both  of  us  is  irreparable  ? 

In  a  few  hurried  lines  I  informed  Mr.  Clarke  of  the 
death  of  your  mother,  and  devolved  on  him  the  task  of 
communicating  this  afflictive  news  to  you,  and  of  sup- 
porting you  under  it.  Alfred  has  since  written  to  you, 
and  has  communicated  the  details  of  the  closing  scene 
of  your  mother's  life.  There  is  only  one  point  on  which 
he  has  not  been  sufficiently  clear.  He  has  merely 
painted  Lizzy  as  a  ministering  angel ;  I  must  paint  her 
to  you  in  higher  colors.  Never,  until  the  late  trying 
scene  revealed  her  to  me  in  her  true  character,  had  I 


INDIAN  SUMMER  299 

known  my  daughter.  I  had  only  known  her  as  a 
kind,  good,  affectionate  daughter ;  as  the  ever  cheer- 
ful, the  ever  happy  Lizzy.  But  never  had  I  known 
her  as  the  firm,  strong  woman,  possessing  a  power  of 
self-control  which  I  have  never  seen  equalled.  But  I 
must  enter  into  details  to  do  her  justice.  Lizzy  had  by 
her  watching  in  the  earlier  parts  of  your  mother's  ill- 
ness, and  perhaps  still  more  by  her  mental  agitation, 
become  ill  herself.  .  .  .  She,  however,  refused  to  retire 
to  another  room,  but  occupied  a  bed  at  the  foot  of  her 
mother's.  From  that  she  rose  every  time  that  her  mo- 
ther moved  to  attend  to  that  mother's  wants ;  and 
when  that  mother's  illness  increased,  the  mental  energy 
of  your  sister  entirely  overcame  her  bodily  indisposition. 
With  a  slight  exception  she  spent  the  last  forty-eight 
hours  at  the  dying  bed  of  her  mother,  ministering 
to  her  wants  with  a  daughter's  care  and  a  woman's 
tenderness.  A  hundred  times  during  those  dreadful 
hours  I  have  seen  my  Lizzy's  frame  convulsed  by  her 
feelings,  but  never  did  even  the  slightest  tremor  in  her 
voice  betray  to  the  ear  what  was  passing  within.  Her 
voice  retained  its  usual  calm,  kind  intonations  to  the 
last,  and  it  was  only  when  all  was  over  that  she  gave 
free  vent  to  her  feelings.  No,  I  repeat  it,  Ann,  never 
have  I  witnessed  such  heroic  self-control. 

We  have  all  of  us  now  returned  to  our  usual  avoca- 
tions and  we  strive  to  be  calm  and  resigned.  .  .  . 

As  to  me,  my  love,  I  am  particularly  the  object  of 
the  tenderest  attentions  from  all  who  surround  me,  and 
all  appear  to  strive  to  comfort  me  in  my  affliction.1 

1  The  passage  in  his  son's  letter  referred  to  by  Mr.  Huidekoper  was 
the  following:  "  We  read  messengers  were  sent  to  comfort  our  divine  Mas- 
ter in  the  last  dark  hour  of  his  trial,  and  so,  too,  when  the  Angel  of  Death 
came  for  our  beloved  mother,  he  found  a  seraph  in  our  little  sister  Lizzie 
at  her  side,  ministering  to  her  wants  day  and  night  without  intermission. 
She  sat  upon  the  bed  anticipating  every  wish  and  soothing  every  pain, 
speaking  with  her  in  tones  of  such  subdued,  yet  touching  affection  that  it 
almost  broke  my  heart  to  think  that  those  who  loved  each  other  so  much 
should  be  separated  so  soon." 


300  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

To  Frederic  Mr.  Huidekoper  wrote  (October  24, 
1839) :  "  Happily,  my  dear  son,  we  are  not  as  those 
who  mourn  without  a  hope.  We  know  that  there  is  a 
Father  who  watches  ever  over  us,  and  that  in  his  hand 
we  are  safe  j  that  death  is  not  the  extinction ;  that  to 
the  Christian  it  is  a  mere  incident  in  his  state  of  be- 
ing, which  translates  him  to  another  apartment  of  his 
Father's  dwelling,  and  that  we  cannot  go  where  we 
shall  cease  to  be  the  objects  of  his  care  and  his  love." 

A  potent  consolation  existed  in  the  grandchildren 
now  beginning  to  claim  his  affection  and  divert  his 
thoughts. 

More  than  a  year  before  Mrs.  Huidekoper's  death  her 
son  Edgar  had  married  Frances  Shippen,  the  daughter 
of  Judge  Henry  Shippen,  Mr.  Huidekoper's  old-time 
friend,  and  had  brought  her  home  to  Pomona.  There 
for  nearly  thirteen  years  she  gave  Mr.  Huidekoper  a 
daughter's  devotion,  filling  the  place  once  more  with  the 
sunshine  of  childhood,  as  her  numerous  little  ones  took 
their  places  around  their  grandfather's  knee,  and  post- 
poning again  and  again,  at  his  urgent  plea,  the  establish- 
ment of  her  own  separate  household.  For  to  him  her 
children  were  like  his  very  own.  Henry,  born  in  time  to 
delight  his  grandmother  with  three  months  of  baby- 
hood, the  second  grandchild  she  had  held  in  her  arms, 
—  Rebecca,  Alfred's  daughter,  being  the  first,  —  Fred- 
eric, Herman,  Edgar,  Gertrude,  all  these  entered  upon 
life  in  the  old  home,  and  played  about  its  spacious 
grounds,  where  their  father  had  played  before  them. 

In  the  sad  months  that  followed  his  great  loss  Mr. 
Huidekoper  found  solace  in  his  visits  to  Alfred's  fam- 
ily, where  the  four-year  old  Rebecca  awaited  him,  and 
in  the  presence  of  the  little  grandson  under  his  own 


«  s 

•  4 


INDIAN  SUMMEE  301 

roof.  He  was  ever  in  the  habit  of  rising  early,  and 
oftenest  spent  the  hours  before  breakfast  in  writing,  or 
in  the  study  of  the  Bible.  His  children  and  his  older 
grandchildren  retained  a  vivid  picture  of  him  as  they  so 
frequently  saw  him,  in  later  years,  sitting  beside  the 
open  fire  in  the  south  room,  with  the  Bible  on  a  little 
stand  beside  him  and  the  cat  upon  his  knee.  On  sum- 
mer mornings,  when  open  windows  were  more  in  order, 
some  pieces  of  bread  would  be  laid  providently  beside 
the  book,  and  the  reason  for  this  would  be  made  plain 
by  a  gentle  tapping  of  small  hoofs  along  the  piazza,  and 
the  thrusting  in  at  the  window  of  the  delicate  noses  and 
brown  ears  of  two  small  deer,  usually  too  shy  to  ap- 
proach the  house  after  the  day's  bustle  had  begun,  but 
confident  of  kindness  during  its  quiet  prelude,  when 
they  were  sure  of  finding  their  trusted  friend  in  soli- 
tude. A  baby  in  the  house,  however,  was  his  best  re- 
source, and  in  this  lonely  winter,  little  Henry,  "  source 
of  great  comfort "  and  "  paying  his  grandpa  for  being 
fond  of  him  by  being  fond  of  his  grandpa  in  return," 
used  to  be  brought  to  the  silent  sleeping-room  to  be 
happily  entertained  until  the  summons  for  breakfast 
interrupted  the  visit.  "In  the  evening  again,"  wrote 
Mr.  Huidekoper,  "I  sit  with  him,  and  divide  my  time 
between  him  and  the  little  memoir  of  my  life  that  I  am 
writing  for  you  all." 

"  To  You,  My  Children,"  he  said,  when  referring  to 
his  wife  in  the  memoir,  or  autobiography,  "who  have 
grown  up  under  her  truly  Maternal  care,  and  who  now, 
with  me,  mourn  for  her  loss,  it  would  be  useless  to  ex- 
patiate on  her  virtues  and  her  worth.  It  was  chiefly  to 
her  that  we  are  indebted  for  that  quiet  spirit  of  order 
which  has  ever  pervaded  our  home." 


302  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

Edgar's  children  were  not  the  only  ones  who  first 
drew  breath  beneath  the  sheltering  eaves  of  Pomona 
Hall.  The  eldest  and  youngest  of  Mrs.  Clarke's  four 
also  were  born  in  Meadville.  It  was  on  the  fifteenth  of 
October,  1840,  while  Mr.  Clarke  was  in  Massachusetts, 
and  his  wife  was  at  Pomona,  that  Herman  was  born. 
This  little  Herman,  in  his  short  life,  filled  an  especial 
niche  in  Margaret  Fuller's  heart.1  He  was  a  child  of 
uncommon  beauty  and  promise  and  was  very  dear  to  his 
grandfather.  On  September  3,  1841,  Mr.  Huidekoper 
wrote  to  his  daughter,  then  with  Mr.  Clarke  in  Boston : 
"  I  am  delighted  with  what  you  tell  me  of  Herman's 
health,  and  sweet  temper  and  progress.  I  wish  I  had 
him  with  me,  so  that  his  voice  might  be  added  to  those 
of  Hen  and  Fred  to  enliven  our  quiet  home.  Give  him 
a  thousand  kisses  for  me,  and  tell  him  that  he  morning 
and  evening  shares  with  his  parents  in  my  prayers.  For 
the  rest,  my  love,  do  not  be  in  a  hurry  to  see  him  creep, 
walk,  talk,  etc.,  and  feel  no  pain  nor  disappointment  if 
you  meet  with  other  children  who  are  more  forward  at 
his  age  than  he  is.  In  some  individuals  the  physical 
and  mental  powers  develop  much  more  slowly  than  in 
others,  and  often  the  former  make  the  brightest  men. 
My  Rambo  apples  are  none  the  worse  for  not  ripening 
as  early  as  my  August  apples." 

Herman  did  not  survive  his  eighth  year.  On  Febru- 
ary 22,  1849,  his  grandfather  wrote :  "  My  dear  chil- 
dren :  Last  evening  I  received  your  letters  of  the  15th. 
I  cannot  tell  you  how  sensible  I  am  to  your  kind  at- 
tempts to  soothe  my  feelings  under  the  afflictive  dispen- 

1  "Three  of  Margaret  Fuller's  passionate  loves  had  been  for  children: 
the  young  Waldo  Emerson,  Pickie  Greeley,  and  Herman  Clarke,"  says  Mr. 
Lindsay  Swift  in  his  Brook  Farm  (p.  216). 


INDIAN  SUMMER  303 

sation  which  has  befallen  us.  I  was  totally  unprepared 
for  this  event,  and  for  the  moment  it  has  overcome  me. 
That  my  dear  Herman  should  be  called  off  before  I  was, 
myself,  had  never  entered  my  mind.  I  ought  to  have 
recollected  that  he  was  liable  to  be  taken  away  in  early 
life,  for  I  had  myself  lost  my  two  eldest  children,  the  one 
in  tender  infancy,  and  the  other  at  about  Herman's  age, 
but  I  hoped  that  my  children  would  have  been  spared 
from  ever  experiencing  the  anguish  which  a  parent 
feels  when  his  fond  anticipations  for  the  future  are 
thus  unexpectedly  blasted.  But  this  is  the  dispensation 
of  a  good  and  wise  Father  who  does  everything  for  the 
best.  .  .  .  Oh  !  if  we  could  only  fully  realize  that  no- 
thing happens  to  us  by  chance,  but  that  all  that  befalls 
us  is  ordered  by  a  wise  and  benevolent  Almighty  Father, 
what  a  different  aspect  everything  would  assume  !  " 

To  produce  and  preserve  in  those  around  him  the 
tranquil,  trustful  spirit  with  which  he  believed  life  should 
be  met,  was  his  constant  endeavor,  and  nothing  de- 
lighted him  more  than  to  minister  to  the  happiness  of 
little  children.  "  The  pleasantest  part  of  my  childhood 
was  spent  in  Meadville,"  writes  one  who  testifies  to  this, 
"and  we  were  indebted  to  dear  Mr.  Huidekoper  more 
than  to  any  one  else  for  the  many  happy  hours  and  days 
we  enjoyed." 

Pomona,  always  a  favorite  play-ground  for  the  chil- 
dren of  the  family,  was  once  a  year  thrown  open  to  a 
large  throng  of  girls  and  boys  who  came  to  celebrate 
the  Fourth  of  July  on  Mr.  Huidekoper's  lawn.  They 
were  the  members  of  the  different  Unitarian  Sunday- 
schools  established  in  Meadville  and  the  neighborhood, 
and  numbered  in  all  more  than  two  hundred  pupils. 
Mr.  Huidekoper  was  very  earnest  in  his  desire  to  spread 


304  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

the  new  gospel  as  far  as  his  efforts  or  the  efforts  of  a 
Meadville  minister  could  carry  it ;  and  he  found  Mr. 
Emmons,1  who  in  1837  succeeded  Mr.  Day  as  pastor  of 
the  Meadville  church,  particularly  successful  in  organiz- 
ing and  carrying  on  church  services  and  Sunday-schools 
in  the  outlying  districts.  In  Vernon  township,  on  the 
Mercer  Pike,  was  in  1842  a  school  of  seventy  or  eighty 
members ;  three  miles  out  on  the  State  Road  was  one 
of  fifty ;  five  miles  further  in  the  same  direction,  an- 
other of  fifty  more.  Every  Fourth  of  July  for  many 
years  all  these  young  people  came  in  from  the  surround- 
ing country  to  join  the  Meadville  Sunday-school  in  a 
frolic  under  the  elms  and  maples  at  Pomona. 

These  gatherings  had  their  origin  in  the  fact  that  in 
1841,  when  most  of  the  churches  in  the  town  formed 
together  their  plans  for  the  entertainment  of  the  Sun- 
day-school children,  the  Unitarian  school  received  no  in- 
vitation to  be  present.  To  make  amends  to  them,  as  Mr. 
Huidekoper  expressed  it,  a  "  little  fete  "  was  arranged 
for  them  at  his  house.  This  was  enjoyed  so  much  that 
it  was  repeated  and  came  to  be  looked  forward  to  from 
year  to  year.  The  children,  brought  from  the  country 
by  the  wagon  load  or  hastening  from  nearer  homes, 
would  meet  at  the  Diamond,  where  they  would  form  a 
procession  headed  by  some  child  carrying  the  banner, 

—  a  square  of  white  satin  embroidered  with  an  appro- 
priate motto  in  bright  colors  by  the  ladies  of  Pomona, 

—  and  thence,  singing  their  Unitarian   hymns,  would 
march  through  the  streets  to  Mr.  Huidekoper's  house, 

1  After  leaving  Meadville  Mr.  Emmons  went  to  Vernon,  N.  Y.,  where 
he  preached  for  about  twelve  years.  Loss  of  voice  compelled  him  to 
abandon  the  pulpit.  He  died  at  Short  Off,  N.  C.,  November  19,  1899, 
aged  ninety-one  years.  The  Independent  Congregational  (Unitarian) 
Church  of  Meadville,  Pa.,  p.  42. 


INDIAN  SUMMER  305 

where  with  outstretched  hand  and  beaming  smile  their 
host  was  standing  to  welcome  them.  The  greetings 
over,  they  would  disperse  to  the  swings,  the  games,  the 
grace-hoops,  and  other  amusements  provided  for  them.1 
In  the  middle  of  the  lawn  a  table,  arched  over  with 
fresh  leafy  branches,  —  "a  bowery  "  they  called  it,  — 
gave  promise  of  a  feast ;  and  by  noon  the  good  things 
were  brought  out  from  the  hospitable  kitchen  and  set 
before  the  hungry  little  folks.  Nor  was  this  hospitality 
limited  to  the  Unitarians.  In  1843  Mr.  Huidekoper 
wrote  that  with  the  forty  or  fifty  young  people  not  in 
the  schools  but  considering  themselves  in  some  measure 
connected  with  the  church,  and  also  "  a  number  who 
joined  in  the  yard,  an  aggregate  of  between  three  hun- 
dred and  fifty  and  four  hundred  turned  out  to  play. 
Add  to  these,"  he  continued,  "  most  of  the  members  of 
our  church  and  a  considerable  concourse  of  town  and 
country  spectators,  and  you  may  form  some  slight  idea 
of  the  lively  scene."  There  is  no  hint  of  anything  like 
our  later  Chinese  fashion  of  making  the  day  hideous, 
although  on  one  occasion  a  paper  balloon  was  sent  up 
amidst  great  enthusiasm.  Yet  no  one  can  doubt  that 
the  cup  of  joy  for  every  child  brimmed  full. 

In  1850  Mr.  Clarke,  recovering  from  the  effects  of 
typhoid  fever,  gave  up  for  a  time  his  Boston  preaching 
and  came  to  Meadville,  partly  for  rest,  partly  to  fill  the 
pulpit,  then  temporarily  vacant.  The  school-room  be- 
came his  study.  There  he  wrote  and  read,  and  prepared 

i  Among  other  treasures  which  added  to  the  attractions  of  Pomona  was 
a  three-seated  covered  wagon  which  Mr.  Huidekoper  had  had  made  for 
his  daughter  Anna,  and  which  the  grandchildren  had  all  played  with.  It 
still  exists,  an  enrapturing  sight.  Six  small  people  could  ride,  and  four 
small  people  could  pull,  to  say  nothing  of  those  who  might  elect  to  push 
behind  or  serve  as  outriders,  and  it  was  a  favorite  plaything  with  all. 


306  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

the  sermons  for  the  Meadville  congregation,  to  whom 
he  preached,  barring  an  absence  of  short  duration,  from 
September,  1851,  until  October,  1852,  and  again  for 
several  months  in  1853,  after  his  return  from  Europe. 
Meanwhile  his  three  children,1  the  youngest  of  whom 
was  born  at  Pomona,  filled  the  gap  caused  by  the  re- 
moval of  Edgar  Huidekoper's  family  to  their  new  home 
on  the  hill.2  Of  this  removal  Mr.  Huidekoper  speaks  in 
a  letter  of  January  7,  1850.  "  On  Thursday  last  Edgar 
and  family  removed  to  their  new  home.  The  frequent 
delays  and  postponements  showed  that  they  left  the 
paternal  home  with  reluctance.  All  were  deeply  moved 
at  leaving,  though  none  more  so  than  little  Hermie. 
When  he  got  to  his  new  home  he  observed  to  his  mother 
that  it  was  very  hard  to  leave  Grandpa ;  and  when  I  went 
the  next  day  to  dine  at  Edgar's  Herman  had  to  leave 
the  room  overcome  by  his  feelings.  .  .  .  Edgar's  new 
home  is  perhaps  the  most  convenient  of  any  I  have  seen 
in  the  West,  and  the  situation  is  really  beautiful,  hav- 
ing a  view  of  the  French  Creek  valley  and  the  surround- 
ing scenery.  All  the  inmates  are  pleased  with  it,  but  my 
little  darling  Eddie  has  met  with  a  cause  of  vexation  he 
had  not  bargained  for.  He  is  so  much  of  a  mother's 
boy  that  he  wants  always  to  sit  next  to  her  at  table. 
Now  in  the  domestic  arrangements  a  fixed  place  at  table 
has  been  assigned  to  him,  and  as  his  mother  at  dinner 
takes  the  head  of  the  table,  and  at  breakfast  and  tea  the 
side,  she  does  not  constantly  sit  next  to  him,  to  his  great 
regret." 

1  Lilian  Freeman,  Eliot,  and  Cora  Huidekoper  Clarke. 

2  After  the  removal  of  Edgar  Huidekoper  and  his  family  to  their  new 
home  on  Chestnut  Street,  Mr.  Huidekoper  one  day  remarked  that  he  was 
going  to  his  home  on  the  hill,  and  from  that  time  Edgar's  place  went  by 
the  name  of  Hill  Home. 


INDIAN  SUMMER  307 

This  tender  sympathy  with  the  joys  and  griefs  of 
childhood  is  the  dominant  note  in  whatever  he  says  of 
his  grandchildren.  One  of  them,  who  remembers  well 
his  great  affection  for  them  all,  writes :  — 

My  sister  was  born  in  his  house,  and  I  have  heard  my 
mother  say  that  she  did  not  think  he  ever  omitted  go- 
ing to  the  nursery  before  breakfast,  and  saying,  in  his 
graceful,  courtly  way,  as  an  old-fashioned  noble  might 
address  a  lady,  "  And  how  has  Grandpa's  darling  passed 
the  night?"  I  recall  sitting  beside  him  in  church,  and 
how  he  would  put  the  hymn-book  in  my  hands  when  the 
hymn  was  given  out,  because  he  knew  nearly  every  hymn 
in  the  book  by  heart,  and  did  not  need  to  look  at  it. 
At  an  earlier  period,  before  my  mother's  marriage,  my 
grandfather,  my  uncle  Edgar,  my  mother,  and  the  clerk 
spent  nearly  all  then*  time  for  six  weeks  each  winter  in 
making  up  the  accounts  of  the  Holland  Company.  My 
mother  said  that  when  she  and  her  father  were  adding 
up  the  same  column  of  figures,  to  see  if  the  result  corre- 
sponded, sometimes  they  would  come  to  a  different  con- 
clusion ;  then  he  always  said,  "  Dear,  I  must  have  made 
a  mistake."  He  never  spoke  as  if  she  had  made  one. 
He  never  punished,  and  practically  never  blamed  his 
children.  My  mother  said  that  the  nearest  he  came  to 
this,  that  she  could  remember,  was  that  when  she  and 
her  sister  were  sometimes  a  little  late  in  coming  down  to 
breakfast  (though  their  late  hours  would  be  early  to  us) 
he  would  come  a  little  way  up  the  stairs  and  call  "Anne  ! 
Elise  1  Darlings  !  Do  you  know  how  late  it  is  ?  "  One 
of  the  pleasantest  pictures  I  retain  of  him,  is  that  of  his 
sitting  at  the  head  of  the  table,  just  about  to  ask  a  bless- 
ing. The  youngest  child,  my  sister,  sat  beside  him  in  a 
high  chair ;  and  when  ready  to  begin,  he  would  turn 
toward  her,  with  such  a  beaming  smile,  and  say,  "  Now, 
fold  your  little  hands."  Then  would  follow  a  very  few 
words,  which  made  us  feel  such  a  sense  of  real,  near  pre- 
sence of  God,  and  which  were  such  an  expression  of  love 


308  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

and  gratitude,  that  the  memory  is  a  thing  to  cherish.  I 
remember  that  the  blessing  contained  usually  the  peti- 
tion that  we  might  be  conscious  of  the  privilege  of  be- 
ing the  children  of  God,  ending  with  the  words  :  "  thy 
children,  whom  thou  hast  placed  here  to  be  educated  for 
eternity." 

In  1852,  my  mother  and  father  went  abroad  for  the 
winter,  leaving  their  three  children  at  Meadville.  I  did 
not  then  know  that  my  mother's  state  of  health  gave 
cause  for  serious  apprehension  on  her  account.  She  was, 
however,  entirely  restored  by  a  sojourn  of  nine  months 
abroad,  and  came  back  in  the  early  summer  almost  per- 
fectly well.  My  grandfather  went  to  meet  the  travelers 
at  Erie,  and  took  me  with  him.  When  the  carriage 
stopped,  he  hastened  down  the  steps  of  the  hotel,  and 
gathering  my  mother  close  he  held  her  to  his  heart,  and, 
looking  up  to  heaven,  the  words,  "  My  God,  I  thank 
thee  !  "  broke  from  him.  The  intensity  of  love  for  the 
daughter  that  he  had  feared  never  again  to  hold  in  his 
arms  and  the  overwhelming  gratitude  to  God,  expressed 
in  those  few  words,  broken  with  emotion,  made  a  very 
deep  impression  on  me,  child  as  I  then  was.  I  have 
never  forgotten  it,  nor  the  effect  it  had  on  me  at  the 
time.  It  was  one  of  the  things  that  showed  that  he  lived 
in  constant  communion  with  God ;  and  now  and  then, 
in  moments  of  sorrow  or  joy,  the  feeling  would  break 
forth,  unconsciously,  being  too  strong  to  repress.  But 
at  all  times  there  was  a  sort  of  light  on  his  face,  coming 
from  the  communion  with  the  unseen  presence  that  was 
so  real  to  him. 

The  "  light  on  his  face  "  corresponded  to  the  joyous- 
ness  of  his  spirit.  In  the  autobiography  he  testified  :  — 

Few  persons  have  enjoyed  life  more  than  I  have  done. 
Much  of  my  happiness  is  no  doubt  to  be  attributed  to 
the  direction  which  my  principal  studies  have  taken  for 
a  number  of  Years  past.  I  have  already  stated,  that, 
though  religion  was  never  a  matter  of  indifference  to 


INDIAN  SUMMER  309 

me,  yet  that  I  had  not  formed  distinct  opinions  as  to 
many  of  its  dogmas :  I  continued  in  this  situation  for  a 
number  of  years.  When  however  I  had  become  a  father 
and  saw  the  time  approaching  when  I  should  have  to 
give  religious  instruction  to  my  Children,  I  felt  it  to  be 
my  duty  to  give  this  subject  a  thorough  examination. 
I  accordingly  commenced  studying  the  scriptures  as  be- 
ing the  only  safe  rule  of  the  Christian's  faith,  and  the 
result  was,  that  I  soon  acquired  clear  and  definite  views 
as  to  all  the  leading  doctrines  of  the  Christian  religion. 
But  the  good  I  derived  from  these  studies  has  not  been 
confined  to  giving  me  clear  ideas  as  to  the  Christian 
doctrines.  They  created  in  me  a  strong  and  constantly 
increasing  interest  in  religion  itself,  not  as  a  mere  the- 
ory, but  as  a  practical  rule  of  life.  The  firm  conviction, 
that  there  is  a  God  whose  power  upholds  us,  and  whose 
Paternal  Providence  constantly  guides  us,  and  directs 
every  event  that  befalls  us,  has  become  to  me  a  source 
of  confidence  and  trust  at  all  times,  and  of  consolation 
in  the  hour  of  trouble.  For  several  years  past  I  have 
been  in  the  daily  habit  of  reading  some  portion  of  the 
Scriptures,  particularly  of  the  New  Testament.  I  would 
recommend  the  same  practice  to  You,  My  Children,  for 
I  have  ever  found  it  a  source  of  new  light  and  of  in- 
centive to  goodness. 

I  have  now  reached  the  evening  of  life,  and  when  I 
look  back  on  the  past  I  feel  that  I  cannot  be  sufficiently 
grateful  to  God  for  the  manner  in  which  he  has  con- 
stantly ordered  my  lot  and  blessed  me.  It  is  true,  by 
the  recent  death  of  your  Dear  Mother,  one  of  the  chief 
sources  of  my  earthly  happiness  has  been  taken  away, 
but,  according  to  the  common  course  of  nature,  our 
separation  cannot  be  long ;  and  in  the  meantime,  how 
many  blessings  have  I  not  left  me,  —  in  Your  affec- 
tion ;  —  in  the  kindness  of  my  numerous  friends  ;  —  in 
the  affectionate  caresses  of  my  Grandchildren,  and  the 
means  of  occasional  usefullness  which  are  afforded  me, 
—  to  cheer  the  evening  of  my  days  ? 


310  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

Such,  My  dear  Children,  are  the  simple  incidents  of 
my  life.  To  You  alone  they  can  have  any  interest,  and 
to  You  this  relation  of  them  is  dedicated  by 

Your  affection  [ate]  Father.1 

In  writing  to  his  children  as  the  successive  birthdays 
came  round  he  could  review  his  life  with  the  same 
serenity  of  mind. 

[April  3,  1842.]  My  dear  Children.  .  .  .  To-day  I 
am  sixty-six  years  old,  an  age  which  considerably  ex- 
ceeds the  average  age  to  which  mankind  attains ;  and 
one  which  there  was  no  reason  to  anticipate  from  my 
sickly  infancy  and  feeble  frame.  When  I  take  a  view  of 
my  past  life,  I  cannot  help  feeling  how  much  cause  of 
gratitude  I  have  to  the  Great  Disposer  of  all  things,  for 
the  manner  in  which  He  has  guided  me,  and  ordered 
my  lot.  Born  almost  dying,  He  has  strengthened  my 
frame,  and  caused  me  to  enjoy  almost  uninterrupted 
good  health.  Born  in  a  district  which,  comparatively 
speaking,  was  at  the  time  of  my  birth  involved  in  the 
darkness  of  the  Middle  Ages,  He  has  led  me  to  where 
my  intellectual,  moral,  and  religious  powers  could 
receive  their  due  development.  Born  in  poverty,  He 
has  blest  me  with  wealth  beyond  my  most  sanguine 
hopes.  Cast  upon  a  distant  shore  a  solitary  stranger, 
He  has  given  me  friends  and  family,  and  a  home ;  and 
now,  in  the  evening  of  life,  I  am  blest  with  good,  kind 
children  ;  with  fine,  promising  grandchildren ;  with  a 
good  share  of  health  and  with  a  heart  as  young  as  ever 
to  enjoy  God's  bounties.  Surely  no  one  ever  had  greater 
cause  for  gratitude  than  I  have.  Life  to  me  has  always 
been,  and  still  is,  so  much  of  a  blessing  that  there  is 
danger  that  I  may  cling  too  fondly  to  it.  May  yours, 
my  dearest,  be  equally  so  to  you. 

[April  4,  1846.]  Yesterday  was  my  birthday.  As 
usual,  that  portion  of  the  family  who  reside  here,  old 

1  Dated  Meadville,  February  28,  1840. 


INDIAN  SUMMER  311 

and  young,  spent  the  day  with  me,  and  as  the  weather 
was  clear  and  warm,  so  that  the  little  ones  could  be 
out  of  doors,  we  had  all  of  us  a  happy  day  of  it.  In 
the  evening  an  additional  number  of  my  friends  called, 
so  that  we  had  quite  a  sociable  reunion.  ...  In  this 
retrospection  of  the  past  the  rapid  flight  of  time  is  not 
the  only  thing  which  attracts  my  attention.  In  it  the 
goodness  of  God  is  still  more  conspicuous.  If  ever 
there  was  anyone  who  had  reason  to  be  grateful  to  God 
for  the  way  in  which  his  life  has  been  ordered,  I  am 
that  one.  God  has,  as  it  were,  led  me  by  the  hand 
through  life,  step  by  step,  by  paths  which  I  had  not 
devised,  and  could  not  have  foreseen,  and  now  in  the 
evening  of  life,  I  can  perceive  much  of  the  wisdom  and 
goodness  of  God's  Providence.  It  is  true,  like  others,  I 
have  met  with  many  troubles  and  disappointments,  and 
with  some  of  those  losses  which  make  the  heart  bleed. 
The  benevolent  purposes  of  the  latter  we  cannot  always 
see  now,  but  shall  know  hereafter ;  and  as  to  the  for- 
mer, I  have  not  met  with  any  disappointments  and 
troubles  more  than  were  necessary  for  the  development 
of  my  powers,  and  the  discipline  of  life.  On  the  whole 
my  life  has  been  a  very  happy  one.  With  my  favorite 
Jotham  Anderson,  I  can  truly  say  that  there  has  not 
been  an  hour  of  life  on  which  the  sun  of  God's  good- 
ness has  not  shone. 

[April  3,  1849.]  What  deep,  what  varied  emotions 
this  day  calls  forth.  The  first  is  that  of  gratitude  to  the 
Being  who,  when  I  was  not,  called  me  into  existence, 
and  placed  me  on  this  splendid  theatre  of  His  power 
and  love.  .  .  .  Here  am  I  now,  entering  on  my  seventy- 
fourth  year,  still  enjoying  good  health  of  body  and 
mind,  and  still,  notwithstanding  those  who  have  been 
called  away,  surrounded  by  a  numerous  and  affec- 
tionate posterity.  But  gratitude  is  not  the  only  emo- 
tion this  day  calls  forth.  Its  rapid  returns  make  me 
realize  in  some  measure  the  velocity  with  which  this 
life  passes  away.  When  I  look  back  it  appears  to  me 


312  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

but  a  little  while  since  I  landed,  a  young  man  of  twenty, 
on  these  shores,  and  yet  more  than  half  a  century  has 
since  passed  by,  and  here  I  have  arrived  already  at  an 
advanced  old  age,  and  the  time  of  my  departure,  I  trust 
the  time  of  my  translation,  cannot,  in  the  common  course 
of  nature,  be  very  far  off.  This,  however  much  I  enjoy 
and  value  the  present  life,  casts  no  shadow  of  gloom 
over  the  enjoyment  of  the  present.  I  fondly  trust  that 
the  same  paternal  care  which  has  watched  over  me  here 
will  again  watch  over  me  in  another  state  of  being,  and 
under  that  care  I  cannot  but  be  safe.  Besides,  I  am  not 
going  to  a  land  of  strangers.  There  are  my  sainted 
Rebecca,  my  two  dear  departed  children,  our  darling 
Herman,  and  a  multitude  of  those  who  were  dear  to  me 
here,  and  to  those  I  hope  to  be  reunited.  For  the  rest, 
I  am  much  of  Mr.  Bellows'  opinion  that  the  change,  on 
passing  from  this  life  to  the  next,  will  be  much  less 
than  is  generally  supposed.  If  men  did  not  essentially 
enter  on  another  life  the  same  as  they  leave  this,  if 
the  change  were  to  be  as  radical  as  the  popular  belief 
makes  it,  it  would  amount  almost  to  a  loss  of  identity. 


CHAPTER  X 

THE  MEADVILLE  THEOLOGICAL  SCHOOL 

As  a  culmination  of  his  desire  to  spread  the  liberal 
faith  throughout  his  beloved  Western  country,  Mr. 
Huidekoper,  in  the  last  ten  years  of  his  life,  saw  rise 
under  his  fostering  care  a  school  for  the  training  of 
ministers  for  that  work.  And  not  for  general  reasons 
alone  was  he  interested  in  the  school ;  it  was  especially 
dear  to  him.  because  created  and  brought  to  the  point  of 
success  mainly  by  the  indefatigable  labors  of  his  son. 

Frederic  Huidekoper,  as  has  been  seen,  entered  Har- 
vard College  in  1834,  in  the  Sophomore  class.  His  de- 
parture from  Pomona  was  scarcely  more  momentous  for 
him  than  for  his  father,  whose  earnest  charge  to  him 
on  settling  him  hi  Cambridge  was,  "  Much  of  your  hap- 
piness and  much  of  mine,  too,  will  now  depend  on  the 
use  you  shall  make  of  the  opportunities  offered  you." 

There  was  little  need  for  parental  exhortation.  Fred- 
eric was  naturally  a  student,  and  also  made  friends  read- 
ily in  the  collegiate  circle.  At  Mr.  Norton's  house  and 
with  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Follen  he  was  a  welcome  guest ;  he 
lived  for  some  time  in  Mr.  Nichols'  household,  and  con- 
tinued in  Cambridge  very  much  the  same  mode  of  liv- 
ing he  had  had  at  home. 

He  had  scarcely  begun  his  second  year  at  college 
when  his  eyes  became  so  seriously  affected  that  he  was 
obliged  to  give  up  study  and  return  to  Meadville.  There 
he  remained  for  the  four  succeeding  years,  working  on 


314  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

the  farm  and  studying  ten  minutes  daily.  After  those 
four  years  he  spent  two  years  in  Europe,  going  first  of 
all  to  Holland,  where  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  his 
father's  people. 

Already  his  tastes  were  indicating  his  fitness  for  a 
minister's  career.  His  father  recognized  this  with  the 
deepest  pleasure,  and  confided  to  Mrs.  Clarke  :  "  There 
are  some  parts  of  his  letters  which  have  affected  me 
much.  When,  at  the  age  of  twenty,  I  find  him  co- 
operating with  his  good  old  Quaker,  in  measures  for  the 
introduction  of  Sunday-schools  and  the  ministry-at-large 
into  Holland,  I  feel  that  I  have  cause  for  gratitude  to 
God  who  gave  me  such  a  son."  1 

To  a  noticeable  degree  Mr.  Huidekoper  had  the  hap- 
piness of  seeing  in  his  children  the  fulfillment  of  some 
of  his  strongest  desires.  His  own  characteristics,  in  fact, 
were  in  them  developed  and  given  full  operation.  His 
sound  judgment  and  ability  in  financial  matters,  his  de- 
votion to  the  religious  life,  his  fondness  for  reading  and 
study,  his  warm  benevolence,  his  public  spirit,  all  were 
represented  in  the  five  sons  and  daughters,  some  more 
prominently  in  one,  some  in  another. 

Frederic,  hesitating  as  to  how  to  shape  his  future, 
asked  his  father  —  and  the  question  was  significant  of 
his  appreciation  of  what  that  father's  life  had  been  — 
whether  a  man  could  accomplish  more  toward  diffusing 
religion  through  the  community  as  a  layman  or  as  a 
clergyman.  Mr.  Huidekoper  replied,  as  might  have  been 
expected,  that  as  an  abstract  problem  he  could  scarcely 
give  the  question  a  satisfactory  solution  ;  but  that  he 
was  glad  that  his  son  put  usefulness  first  in  considering 
his  life's  work,  since  that  was  life's  legitimate  object, 

1  Letter  of  November  2,  1839. 


Frederic  Huidekoper 


THE  MEADVILLE  THEOLOGICAL  SCHOOL          315 

and  that  a  distinct  profession  or  calling  usually  enabled 
a  young  man  to  be  more  useful  than  the  general  dispo- 
sition to  be  "  philanthropist-at-large."  It  was  always 
good,  he  said,  to  have  a  distinct  object  in  view.  "  I  do 
not  coincide,"  ...  he  continued,  "  in  the  opinion  that 
the  clerical  office  has  lost  any  of  its  former  usefulness. 
The  nature  of  that  usefulness  may  have  altered  some- 
what by  reason  of  the  clergymen  now  occupying  a  less 
isolated  station  in  society  than  formerly ;  but  the  amount 
of  that  usefulness  I  believe  rather  to  have  increased  than 
diminished.  .  .  . 

"  Leaving  the  selection  of  a  profession  entirely  to 
yourself,  I  f ully  approve  of  your  plan  of  going  on  with 
your  theological  studies.  .  .  .  You  would  have  either  for 
the  parochial  ministry  or  for  the  ministry  at  large,  some 
advantages  which  are  not  common.  Most  of  the  min- 
isters are  poor.  You,  however,  if  no  misfortune  befall 
me,  will  ultimately  have  an  income  of  $5000  or  $6000 
a  year,  and  that  will  enable  you  to  enlarge  very  consid- 
erably the  circle  of  your  usefulness."  1 

On  his  return  from  Europe  Frederic  entered  the  Har- 
vard Divinity  School.2  While  he  was  still  at  Cambridge, 
his  father  gave  him  this  pertinent  advice  (January  10, 
1843) :  "  Talk  to  your  audience,  not  at  them.  No  ab- 
stractions, no  dissertations,  no  claptrap,  or  artful  ar- 
rangements to  produce  effect ;  and  above  all,  no  preach- 
ing of  yourself  instead  of  the  gospel.  Be  always  true, 
be  natural.  So  far  as  possible,  forget  yourself.  Pene- 
trate yourself  deeply  with  the  importance  of  what  you 

i  Letter  of  November  11,  1840. 

a  The  state  of  his  eyes  forbade  his  studying  the  Hebrew  required  for 
the  regular  course,  and  he  therefore  after  the  first  year  was  obliged  to 
continue  as  a  special  student. 


316  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

have  to  say,  and  then  address  your  hearers  under  a  feel- 
ing of  that  importance,  and  depend  upon  it  you  will  be 
listened  to.  I  feel  convinced  that  much  of  the  present 
inefficiency  of  preaching  is  owing  to  its  being  too  arti- 
ficial. ...  Be  simple  in  your  prayers,  and  confine  your- 
self to  such  subjects  as  your  hearers  feel  a  sufficient 
interest  in  to  join  heartily  with  you  in  asking  for.  .  .  . 
Let  us  pray,  not  merely  say  prayers." 

Having  finished  his  theological  studies,  the  young 
minister  returned  home.  James  Freeman  Clarke  was 
temporarily  filling  the  Meadville  pulpit,  for  Mr.  Em- 
mons  had  resigned,  and  no  one  else  had  yet  been  found 
to  take  his  place.  The  presence  of  Mr.  Clarke  and  his 
consenting  to  preach  the  ordination  sermon  made  the 
time  an  auspicious  one  for  Frederic's  ordination.  The 
Reverend  G.  W.  Hosmer  was  asked  to  come  to  Mead- 
ville to  make  the  ordination  charge,  and  on  the  12th  of 
October,  1843,  Mr.  Huidekoper  witnessed,  in  the  church 
built  up  by  his  efforts,  his  son's  induction  into  the  Uni- 
tarian ministry. 

Frederic  Huidekoper  had  intended  to  serve  as  minis- 
ter-at-large  for  the  several  congregations  in  the  neigh- 
borhood, but  another  field  of  work  opened  before  him. 
The  plan  for  organizing  a  Western  theological  school 
had  long  been  a  favorite  one  with  the  Unitarians  who 
were  carrying  on  their  unequal  struggle  far  from  the 
base  of  supplies.  They  felt  the  need  of  a  centre  of  in- 
fluence for  themselves  and  for  the  rapidly  increasing 
population.  Mr.  Huidekoper  had  more  than  once  been 
hopeful  that  the  scheme  was  about  to  be  carried  out. 

It  had  at  one  time  seemed  probable  that  such  a  school 
would  be  begun  at  Buffalo,  under  Mr.  Hosmer's  direc- 
tion. At  another  time  there  was  a  plan  for  starting  one 


Edgar  Huidekoper 


THE  MEADVILLE  THEOLOGICAL  SCHOOL          317 

at  Cincinnati  or  Louisville.  Later,  the  Rev.  William  G. 
Eliot  tried  to  organize  one  at  St.  Louis.  All  these  pro- 
jects had  come  to  naught,  but  the  need  existed  still,  and 
once  more  the  subject  was  brought  forward.  Indeed, 
the  favorable  opportunity  had  plainly  arrived.  It  pre- 
sented itself  on  the  one  hand,  in  Frederic,  a  young  and 
deeply  earnest  man,  well  equipped,  his  life  consecrated 
to  religious  service,  and  one,  moreover,  who  was  lifted 
above  worldly  considerations  by  abundant  means  be- 
stowed upon  him  by  his  father.  On  the  other  hand, 
there  was  Mr.  Huidekoper,  a  man  able  to  give  and  pro- 
cure moral  support  as  well  as  financial  aid  for  the  en- 
terprise. MeadviUe,  which  Mr.  Huidekoper  had  made 
an  important  outpost  of  Unitarianism,  would  furnish  a 
sympathetic  environment,  and  a  beautiful  one.  All  these 
circumstances  combined  to  make  the  building  up  of  a 
school  possible  at  last. 

Mr.  Hosmer  urged  Frederic  to  attempt  it,  and  at  once 
found  him  a  willing  listener.  The  Rev.  Elihu  Goodwin 
Holland1  was  about  to  become  pastor  of  the  Meadville 
church.  He  too,  when  he  came,  entered  heartily  into 
the  scheme  and  contemplated  assisting  in  the  instruc- 
tion. Mr.  Holland  was  a  member  of  the  Christian  de- 
nomination, and  predicted  that  young  men  of  that  sect 
would  welcome  a  Western  theological  school,  as  it  was 
difficult  for  them  to  obtain  any  adequate  preparation  for 
the  ministry.  As  the  Universalists  were  in  like  case,  it 
was  determined  that  the  Meadville  school  should  not 
stand  for  Unitarianism  alone,  but  should  be  open  to 
students  of  any  persuasion.2  A  working  plan  was  drawn 

1  Mr.  Holland  afterward  preached  in  Christian  churches  in  different 
parts  of  the  country,  and  lectured  both  here  and  abroad.  He  died,  De- 
cember 13,  1878,  at  Canandaigua,  N.  Y.,  aged  sixty-one  years. 

a  "  Mr.  Holland's  stay  with  us  and  Frederic's  intercourse  with  the 


318  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

up  by  Frederic  Huidekoper  and  sent  to  Mr.  Hosiner  for 
his  approval. 

According  to  this  plan  the  former  was  to  assume  the 
chief  burden  of  the  work,  as  well  as  the  responsibility, 
and  Mr.  Holland  was  to  aid  him  as  assistant  professor. 
Mr.  Hosmer's  part  was  to  be  that  of  lecturer  on  pastoral 
care,  and  while  delivering  his  course  he  was  to  exchange 
pulpits  with  the  Meadville  minister  for  the  requisite 
number  of  weeks,  that  he  might  the  more  conveniently 
be  upon  the  scene  of  his  labors.  All  three  men  were  to 
give  their  time  and  efforts  gratuitously.  To  all  this  Mr. 
Hosmer  gave  his  sanction,  and  though  it  was  never 
precisely  in  that  form  carried  out,  it  served  as  a  foun- 
dation to  work  upon.  Mr.  Hosmer  gave  the  project 
its  first  public  mention  in  an  article  published  in  the 
"Monthly  Miscellany  "  for  December,  1843.  Mr.  Hol- 
land secured  a  number  of  applications  for  admission,  and 
Mr.  Huidekoper,  seeing  the  matter  in  actual  progress, 
offered  his  son  five  hundred  dollars  for  books  or  any 
other  necessary  expenditure.  He  next  wrote  to  friends 
at  New  York,  Philadelphia,  and  throughout  the  West, 
asking  further  contributions,  and  received  encourag- 
ing responses.  From  these  small  beginnings  the  school 
grew. 

The  labor  of  preparing  for  the  opening,  of  answering 
applications,  and  of  attending  to  all  the  details  of  the  un- 
dertaking fell  mainly  upon  Frederic  Huidekoper's  shoul- 
ders, and  it  soon  became  evident  that  the  aid  which  Mr. 
Holland  felt  that  he  could  give  to  the  school  aside  from 

Christian  ministers  will  tend  to  draw  closer  the  connection  between  us  and 
that  important  and  widely  diffused  sect,  and  I  rejoice  at  it  because  I  be- 
lieve that  a  closer  intimacy  and  connection  between  the  Unitarian  and 
Christian  denominations  would  be  promotive  of  both  religion  and  truth." 
Letter  from  Mr.  Huidekoper  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Clarke,  April  15,  1844. 


THE  MEADVILLE  THEOLOGICAL  SCHOOL          319 

his  duties  as  minister  —  or,  in  fact,  any  unpaid  aid  that 
they  could  get  —  would  be  insufficient.  Besides,  the 
length  of  Mr.  Holland's  stay  was  uncertain.  In  view  of 
all  this  Mr.  Huidekoper  set  about  finding  another  co- 
adjutor for  his  son. 

On  February  2,   1844,  he  wrote  to  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Clarke :  — 

I  must  frankly  confess  to  you  that  I  am  afraid  Fred 
is  involving  himself  in  labors  which  will  exceed  his 
powers,  or  those  of  any  one  man.  Within  the  last 
week,  letters  have  been  received  of  several  persons  (2 
of  them  already  in  the  ministry)  who  purpose  attend- 
ing the  proposed  school.  Seven  have  already  declared 
their  intention  to  enter,  and  others  are  spoken  of. 
I  should  not  be  surprised  if  there  were  a  dozen  or 
more  at  the  opening  of  the  school.  Now  these  will  be, 
not  college  graduates  with  minds  already  disciplined, 
but  entirely  raw  recruits,  many  of  them,  I  am  afraid, 
greatly  deficient  even  in  a  decent  knowledge  of  the 
English  language.  Now  to  impart  to  such  men  a  de- 
cent degree  of  theological  knowledge  and  to  discipline 
their  minds  so  as  to  make  useful  ministers  of  the  gos- 
pel of  them  is,  I  apprehend,  too  great  a  task  for  one 
man.  I  wish  James  to  consider  whether  he  cannot  de- 
vise a  plan  to  procure  for  F.  an  adjunct  to  divide  with 
him  the  labors  of  the  school.  If  one  could  be  found  to 
explain  to  the  students  the  Old  Testament  and  to  in- 
struct them  in  the  art  of  composition,  F.  might  get 
along  with  the  rest.  The  main  difficulty  is  whence  to 
obtain  the  funds  for  this  professorate ;  can  James  de- 
vise a  plan  for  this  ?  F.  is  willing  to  work  without  pecu- 
niary remuneration,  but  it  cannot  be  expected  that  his 
colleague  shall  do  so  too.  I  am  afraid  that  this  pro- 
jected Theological  School  will  in  a  great  measure  with- 
draw Fred  from  the  pulpit,  a  thing  I  should  sincerely 
regret ;  not  only  because  he  has  need  of  practice  to  im- 


320  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

prove  himself  as  a  preacher,  but  also  on  my  own  ac- 
count, and  because  I  like  to  listen  to  him  Not  but  that 
he  is  as  yet  deficient  in  the  modulation  of  his  voice,  and 
in  method  of  arrangement,  but  there  is  a  deep  devo- 
tional feeling  pervading  all  his  exercises,  which  renders 
them  generally  acceptable. 

A  letter  to  Frederic,  which,  although  of  a  later  date, 
—  June  24,  1845,  —  may  be  quoted  here,  is  but  another 
proof  of  the  father's  affectionate  vigilance. 

I  fully  coincide  with  you  in  regard  to  the  views  you 
express  as  to  the  best  mode  of  carrying  on  your  school, 
and  the  $200  which  you  ask  me  to  contribute  I  will 
give  cheerfully,  for  my  confidence  in  the  usefulness  of 
your  school  and  in  its  success  is  increasing. 

But,  my  dear  Frederic,  while  I  thus  cheerfully  con- 
tribute to  render  your  efforts  available,  allow  me  to  warn 
you  against  a  danger  to  which  I  think  you  are  exposed, 
and  which,  if  not  counteracted,  may  tend  to  diminish 
your  future  usefulness.  I  refer  to  the  danger  of  be- 
coming a  man  of  only  one  all-absorbing  idea.  That  you 
should  devote  yourself  to  your  profession,  and  that  this 
should  be  with  you  the  main  object,  is  right,  but  then 
you  must  not  carry  this  to  extremes.  I  have  observed 
that  in  company  your  school  was  the  main  subject  of 
your  thought  and  conversation,  and  that  even  at  table 
you  are  often  so  absorbed  in  thought  as  to  become  for- 
getful of  the  customary  courtesies  of  society.  Your  let- 
ters to  me  bear  also  witness  that  you  suffer  yourself  to 
be  absorbed  by  one  favorite  subject.  I  know  by  experi- 
ence how  pleasant  it  is,  when  we  have  a  favorite  subject, 
to  give  ourselves  entirely  up  to  it ;  but  I  know  too  that 
this  exclusiveness  is  wholesome  neither  for  the  body  or 
the  mind.  Pray  learn  to  control  your  thoughts,  and  to 
devote  them  entirely  to  the  subject  in  hand.  Let  your 
school  be  the  main  object  of  your  thought  at  proper 
times  and  seasons,  but  at  others  learn  to  dismiss  it 


Anna  Huidekover  Clarke 


THE  MEADVILLE  THEOLOGICAL  SCHOOL         321 

entirely  from  your  mind,  and,  when  in  company,  give 
yourself  up  to  the  little  courtesies  and  amenities  of  so- 
ciety, with  as  much  attention  as  if  you  were  a  man  of 
the  world. 

The  power  or  habit  of  concentrating  our  thoughts 
entirely  on  one  subject  at  a  time,  and  of  thus  passing 
from  one  subject  to  another,  is  an  invaluable  one.  It 
was  this  which  enabled  the  Pensionary  John  DeWitte 
to  become  the  greatest  stateman  of  Europe,  and,  I  be- 
lieve, all  eminent  men  have  possessed  it  in  a  consider- 
able degree.  That  this  power  cannot  be  acquired,  and 
rendered  habitual,  without  much  labor  and  attention  I 
admit ;  but  then  nothing  worth  having  is  acquired  with- 
out labor,  and  you  have  the  necessary  resolution  and 
perseverance  to  improve  yourself. 

As  a  useful  auxiliary  in  this  scheme  of  improvement, 
I  would  advise  you  to  get  a  wife.  This  will  give  the  ne- 
cessary distraction  to  your  thoughts.  If  you  devote  the 
half  of  your  time  during  the  vacation  to  the  hunting  up 
of  a  good  wife,  it  will  be  better  spent  than  if  you  devote 
the  whole  of  it  to  thinking  about  your  school,  books, 
students,  etc.  You  are  now  of  a  proper  age  to  get  mar- 
ried. At  home  you  cannot  find  a  wife  to  suit  you,  and 
hence  you  will  have  to  look  for  one  here,1  and,  as  you 
can  only  be  absent  from  your  school  during  the  vaca- 
tion, you  will  have  to  avail  yourself  of  that  time  to  look 

for  one. is,  I  understand,  engaged.  She 

would  have  made  an  excellent  wife.  So,  I  think,  will 
Miss do.  I  have  seldom  seen  a  more  ami- 
able girl.  She  is  now  at  Bangor,  but  is  expected  home 
towards  the  latter  part  of  July.  However,  even  at  Ban- 
gor she  is  easily  accessible,  and  is  well  worth  a  visit 
there.  On  this  subject  you  must,  however,  consult  your 
own  inclinations.2 

1  This  letter  was  written  while  Mr.  Huidekoper  was  in  Boston  ;  Fred- 
eric Huidekoper  was  for  the  time  in  New  York. 

*  His  wish  to  see  Frederic  married  was  gratified  in  1853,  and  Pomona 
became  the  home  of  the  new  daughter-in-law,  as  it  had  been  of  his  son 


322  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

During  his  visit  to  Boston  in  May,  1844,  Mr.  Hui- 
dekoper  consulted  with  the  officers  of  the  American 
Unitarian  Association,  and  received  from  them  the  as- 
surance that  the  Association  would  give  five  hundred 
dollars  yearly  for  five  years  provided  the  right  man  could 
be  found  for  the  presidency  of  the  Theological  School. 
In  the  Rev.  Ruf  us  Phineas  Stebbins  l  of  Leominster, 
Massachusetts,  all  the  requirements  were  met,  not  only 
for  the  presidency,  but  for  the  Meadville  pastorate.  The 
executive  board  of  the  American  Unitarian  Association 
therefore  wrote,  offering  him  a  salary  should  he  accept 
the  position  of  president  of  the  school,  and  the  Mead- 
ville church  at  once  gave  him  a  call. 

Mr.  Huidekoper  had,  meanwhile,  purchased  and  re- 
fitted a  building  for  the  school,  a  small  brick  church, 
which  had  belonged  to  one  of  the  Presbyterian  socie- 
ties. As  this  building,  the  first  "  Divinity  Hall,"  situ- 
ated on  Centre  Street,  was  not  ready  when  the  time  came 
for  opening  the  school,  the  first  meetings  were  held  in 
the  basement  of  Alfred  Huidekoper' s  house,  and  it  was 
there  that  on  the  first  of  October,  1844,  the  Meadville 
Theological  School  made  its  entrance  upon  the  Western 
world.  Mr.  Stebbins  was  its  president,  and  Frederic 
Huidekoper,  besides  his  work  as  professor,  continued 
his  indefatigable  exertions  in  many  directions  in  its  be- 
half. The  first  year's  faculty  consisted  of  these  two  with 
Mr.  Hosmer,  who  lectured  upon  pastoral  care.  Edgar 
Huidekoper,  from  the  first,  had  charge  of  the  account 

Edgar's  wife.   Frederic  Huidekoper  married,  November  10,  1853,  Har- 
riet Nancy  Thorp. 

1  Dr.  Stebbins's  career  is  well  known.  He  remained  president  of  the 
school  until  June,  1856.  He  died  at  Cambridge,  Mass.,  August  13,  1885, 
aged  seventy-five  years. 


Alfred  Huidekoper 


THE  MEADVILLE  THEOLOGICAL  SCHOOL  323 

books,  and,  after  the  incorporation  of  the  school  in 
1847,  was  formally  elected  its  treasurer.1 

The  contributions  which  had  been  promised  were,  be- 
sides Mr.  Huidekoper's  gift  and  the  five  hundred  a  year 
for  Mr.  Stebbins  from  the  American  Unitarian  Associa- 
tion, one  hundred  dollars  and  forty-two  volumes  from 
the  Society  for  Promoting  Theological  Education,  two 
hundred  dollars  given  by  some  unknown  person  through 
Dr.  Bellows  of  New  York,  two  hundred  dollars  from 
Mr.  Farley's  society  in  Brooklyn,  sixty-five  dollars  from 
Mr.  Hosmer's  society,  fifty  dollars  from  Miss  Margaret 
Shippen,  and  five  dollars  from  Mrs.  Chamberlin  of  New- 
burg  ;  with  additional  donations  of  books  from  fifteen 
different  persons  in  Boston,  Cambridge,  and  New  York. 
The  total  value  of  its  property  was  estimated  in  1844  at 
$1540.53.  The  school  to-day  has  a  commanding  situ- 
ation at  the  head  of  Chestnut  Street,  on  land  given 
by  Frederic  Huidekoper,  with  a  commodious  Divinity 
Hall,  a  beautiful  library  building,  Huidekoper  Hall,2 
filled  with  well-chosen  books,  and  a  gymnasium-refec- 
tory building.  Its  faculty  numbers  six  members,  and 
its  property  is  estimated  at  more  than  $690,000. 

At  the  celebration  in  1894  of  the  semi-centennial 
anniversary  of  the  founding  of  the  school,  those  who 
looked  back  in  review  could  count  two  hundred  and 
twenty-five  Meadville-trained  ministers  living,  almost 
all  of  whom  were  still  in  actual  service. 

Through  all  these  fifty  years  the  devotion    of  Mr. 

1  Arthur  Cullom  was  elected  treasurer  at  the  first  meeting  of  the  trus- 
tees under  the  charter,  held  May  18,  1847.   He  declined  to  serve,  and 
Edgar  Huidekoper  was  elected  July  1, 1847.   Edgar  Huidekoper  resigned 
June  27,  1861. 

2  The  gift  of  Miss  E.  6.  Huidekoper,  two  of  her  brothers,  and  her 
nephew. 


324  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

Huidekoper's  children  and  grandchildren  has  been  a 
distinguishing  feature  of  its  history.  Frederic  Huide- 
koper  gave  to  it  thirty  years  of  his  life.  Alfred  Huide- 
koper,  its  earliest  secretary,  was  one  of  its  trustees  from 
the  beginning  until  his  death  in  1892 ;  he  was  indeed 
for  many  years  the  president  of  the  Board  of  Trustees, 
while  his  son,1  and  that  son's  son,2  are  on  the  board  at 
the  present  day. 

Elizabeth  G.  Huidekoper  —  it  has  been  said  that  she 
should  be  called  the  mother  of  the  Theological  School 
—  has  opened  her  home  to  its  students  and  has  shared 
with  the  school  a  generous  portion  of  her  worldly  goods. 
She  has  been,  since  her  brother  Alfred's  death,  presi- 
dent of  the  Board  of  Trustees. 

Edgar  Huidekoper's  services  as  treasurer  ante-date 
the  incorporation ;  his  son  Edgar,  one  of  the  trustees, 
has  been  treasurer  since  1879,  and  two  other  sons 3  and 
a  daughter4  are  also  on  the  board  of  trustees  now. 
The  work  and  character  of  Edgar  Huidekoper,  the  first 
treasurer,  received  only  a  just  tribute  from  the  Rev. 
Rush  Rhees  Shippen,  when  he  said,  on  the  occasion  of 
the  fiftieth  anniversary :  "  Throughout  the  first  fifteen 
[seventeen]  years  the  funds  and  financial  affairs  of  the 
school  were  managed  by  Edgar  Huidekoper,  Senior,  as 
treasurer ;  and  no  educational  or  philanthropic  institu- 
tion of  America  has  had  better  handling.  ...  Of  rare 
business  ability,  the  very  soul  of  integrity  and  honor,  of 
exquisite  refinement,  with  sensibilities  delicate  as  those 
of  a  woman,  generous  in  heart  and  hand,  with  a  most 

1  Arthur  Clarke  Htiidekoper. 

1  Albert  Reynolds  Huidekoper. 

*  Henry  Shippen  Huidekoper  and  Frederic  Wolters  Huidekoper. 

4  Elizabeth  Huidekoper  Kidder. 


Elizabeth  G.  Huidekoper 


THE  MEADVILLE  THEOLOGICAL  SCHOOL  326 

hospitable  courtesy  and  chivalric  gallantry,  he  had  withal 
a  gift  of  fastidious  criticism,  that  made  us  youngsters 
rather  afraid  of  him,  and  put  us  at  our  distance,  so  that 
to-day  we  can  but  regret  that  he  should  have  left  the 
world  without  knowing  half  how  highly  we  honored 
and  tenderly  regarded  him.  We  think  of  him  with  lofty 
admiration  and  enduring  gratitude." 

The  Meadville  Theological  School  has  always  shown 
a  spirit  of  wide  tolerance  and  liberality.  It  has  had 
among  its  students  men  from  many  religious  denomina- 
tions; of  the  four  hundred  and  ninety-four  students 
admitted  to  the  forty-eight  classes  reported  upon  at  the 
fiftieth  anniversary,  ninety-five  were  from  the  Chris-* 
tians,  twenty-two  from  the  Universalists,  about  fifty 
from  the  (so-called)  Evangelical  churches,  and  the  resi- 
due from  the  Unitarian  ranks.1  Moreover,  the  Mead- 
ville School,  far  in  advance  of  the  times,  long  ago 2 
threw  its  doors  open  to  women.  Ten  women  graduates 
of  those  forty-eight  classes  received  diplomas  from  the 
school,  and  although  a  small  proportion  of  them  went 
into  active  ministry,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  the  training 
was  by  no  means  lost  upon  those  who  made  use  of  it 
mainly  as  ministers'  wives.3 

"  Mr.  Huidekoper," 4  said  Mr.  Hale,  during  the  anni- 
versary exercises,  "and  those  that  worked  with  him, 
builded  better  than  they  knew.  .  .  .  Mr.  Huidekoper 
had  an  idea  that  he  should  here  give  the  young  men 
from  these  States  a  training  enabling  them  to  go  into 
Western  parishes.  But  he  builded  a  great  deal  better 

1  See  Proceedings  at  the  Celebration  of  the  Semi-Centennial  of  the  Mead- 
ville Theological  School,  page  9. 

2  In  1868. 

3  Six  of  the  ten  married  members  of  the  school. 
*  He  referred  here  to  Professor  Huidekoper. 


326  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

than  he  knew.  Meadville  has  distributed  her  treasures 
with  great  impartiality.  .  .  .  There  has  been  no  dis- 
tinction between  the  East  and  the  West  in  the  distribu- 
tion of  your  gifts.  ...  I  think  that  the  blessing  and 
the  benefit  which  the  Meadville  Theological  School  has 
brought  into  the  Unitarian  cause  came  by  bringing  to 
it  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men  whom  it  has  trained 
to  use  their  mother  tongue  with  perfect  precision,  but 
out  of  whom  it  has  never  drained  the  elements  of 
American  life.  I  think  that  gift  is  one  that  cannot  be 
overestimated." 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE  LIVING  MEMORY 

MR.  HUIDEKOPER'S  letters,  to  the  last,  preserved  their 
tone  of  vigor  and  enjoyment.  In  the  autumn  of  1848 
he  assured  Mrs.  Clarke  that  the  greater  steadiness  of 
his  handwriting  was  probably  due  to  his  having  been 
out  shooting  the  day  before  ;  and  that  a  walk  through 
the  fields  of  two  or  three  hours  fatigued  him  less  than 
it  had  done  two  years  earlier.  In  May,  1850,  he  re- 
ported, "As  Edgar  has  moved  to  his  own  place,  and 
as  ...  my  factotum  has  left  me,  ...  I  have  had  to 
superintend  the  making  of  my  garden,  and  to  attend 
to  other  out-door  matters.  I  generally  rise  between  half 
after  four  and  five  o'clock,  and  am  on  my  feet  most  of 
the  day,  so  that  I  am  quite  ready  to  go  to  bed  when 
evening  comes." 

Four  years  after  that,  —  and  they  were  still  fruitful, 
profitable  years,  —  the  end  approached.  What  seemed 
at  first  but  a  light  cold  suddenly  developed  fatal  symp- 
toms. His  son  Frederic  —  at  work  one  evening  in  a 
room  adjoining  his  father's,  preparing,  indeed,  for  pub- 
lication his  first  book1 — was  summoned  by  his  father's 
knock  on  the  wall,  and  went  at  once  to  his  bedside. 
"  He  supposed  himself,"  wrote  the  son,  "  slightly  un- 
well, but  in  a  few  hours  he  had  passed  away.' 


"2 


1  The  title  of  the  book,  The  Belief  of  the  First  Three  Centuries  Concerning 
Christ's  Mission  to  the  Underworld,  recalls  Mr.  Huidekoper's  early  essays. 
8  Manuscript  Autobiography  of  Frederic  Huidekoper. 


328  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

That  was  on  the  22d  of  May,  1854,  little  more  than 
a  month  after  his  seventy-eighth  birthday.  Robust,  ac- 
tive, cheerful,  he  had  to  the  last  diffused  happiness  and 
brightness  wherever  he  might  be.  His  going  was  quite 
as  he  would  have  wished  it,  and  for  the  great  change 
he  was  entirely  ready. 

To  our  imperfect  vision  death  often  closes  this  world's 
record  of  an  individual  life  with  a  final,  almost  an  ob- 
literating hand.  Mr.  Huidekoper's  life  had  the  quality 
of  earthly  continuance,  in  that  the  works  he  had  begun 
went  on  and  did  not  die,  and  the  vital  memory  of  him 
lingered  with  a  singular  persistence.  Unitarianism  ac- 
knowledges its  debt  to  him,  the  church  and  the  school 
which  he  helped  to  found  carry  forward  his  fame,  while 
general  education,  civilization,  and  religion,  in  the  region 
in  which  he  made  his  home,  are  distinctly  the  better  for 
his  exertions. 

More  interesting  still  is  it  to  see  how  he  quickened 
the  effectiveness  of  those  around  him.  His  was  a  per- 
sonality not  easily  forgotten.  The  very  warmth  of  his 
temperament  lent  an  impetus  to  his  contact  with  others 
which  did  not  cease  to  act  after  he  had  gone  on  his  way. 
As  an  instance  of  this  the  following  story  is  related : 
While  traveling  once  in  western  New  York  he  happened 
to  stop  over  night  in  a  small  town  where  the  best  ac- 
commodation was  a  rather  wretched  tavern.  The  inn- 
keeper and  his  wife,  inferior  people,  depended  for  help 
mainly  upon  a  young  girl,  their  bond-servant,  of  whom 
they  made  a  veritable  drudge.  Mr.  Huidekoper's  ob- 
servant eye  soon  noted  their  ill-treatment  of  her,  and  at 
the  same  time  marked  the  faithfulness  and  skill  with 
which  she  accomplished  her  tasks.  On  leaving  he  said 
a  few  words  to  her,  appreciative  of  her  difficulties  and 


THE  LIVING  MEMORY  329 

of  the  way  in  which  she  met  them,  and,  besides  giving 
her  a  little  money,  told  her  that  he  would  like  to  leave 
with  her  something  which  she  could  keep  as  a  reminder 
of  his  visit.  When  he  searched  his  saddle-bags  for  a 
keepsake,  he  could  find  nothing  to  offer  her  except  a 
book  of  State  statistics.  However,  he  gave  her  that  and 
departed.  That  dry  volume  she  treasured ;  it  stood  to 
her  for  the  encouragement  and  sympathy  that  had 
fallen  like  manna  out  of  Heaven  upon  her  starving  soul. 
What  slight  suggestion  she  may  have  drawn  from  its 
tabulated  records  of  population,  pauperism,  and  crime,  or 
how  much  of  her  inspiration  came  from  the  kindness 
shown  her,  it  is  impossible  to  say ;  but  certain  it  is  that 
in  after  life,  when  she  had  become  one  of  New  York's 
well-known  philanthropists,  she  looked  back  upon  her 
encounter  with  the  friendly  stranger  as  the  turning  point 
from  which  she  had  steadily  moved  onward  in  her  suc- 
cessful career. 

A  little  word  from  him  carried  weight.  He  seldom 
met  any  one,  man,  woman,  or  child,  without  instinctively 
or  unconsciously  saying  or  doing  something  that  left  a 
direct  influence  behind  it.  One  day,  in  passing  a  group 
of  children,  he  stopped  among  them  and,  laying  his  hand 
on  the  head  of  one  of  the  little  girls,  said,  "  You  don't 
know  me,  do  you  ?  " 

"  Oh,  yes,  I  do,"  she  answered,  "  you  are  the  man  who 
builds  churches  and  schools." 

"  I  can  tell  you,"  he  responded,  "  something  better  to 
build  than  schools  or  churches,  a  great  deal  better,  and 
you  can  all  do  it ;  that  is,  character."  And  he  then  and 
there  gave  his  attentive  sidewalk  audience  a  little  ser- 
mon on  character-building,  which,  as  the  narrator  of  the 
incident  says, they  simply  "could  not  help  remembering." 


330  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

Another  story  told  of  him  has  its  humorous  side. 
An  excellent  divine,  but  one  much  given  to  the  enjoy- 
ments of  the  fleshpots,  frequently  visited  Pomona,  and 
as  frequently  complained  of  dire  physical  ills  which  to 
a  spectator  were  plainly  the  result  of  an  entirely  undis- 
criminating  indulgence  in  the  good  things  provided 
there  and  elsewhere.  With  friendly  unobtrusiveness  his 
host  one  day  recommended  to  his  perusal  a  book  which 
he  lent  him,  —  a  little  manual  of  healthful  living  and 
right  thinking  which  chanced  to  lie  near  at  hand.  On 
the  occasion  of  the  next  visit  the  guest,  a  transformed 
man,  naively  remarked  that  he  had  never  before  im- 
agined that  Christianity  had  anything  to  do  with  one's 
digestion. 

The  whole  country-side  about  Meadville  preserves  its 
legends  of  Harm  Jan  Huidekoper,  and  the  towns  in 
the  neighborhood  have  their  anecdotes  to  tell.  In  the 
"  Venango  Spectator  "  a  traveler  who  once  met  him  on 
a  stage  journey  has  given  the  following  account  of  their 
brief  acquaintance :  — 

At  Meadville  I  stopped  at  a  brick  tavern,  kept  by 
John  E.  Smith.  It  was  crowded  with  persons  from 
eastern  and  southern  counties  who  had  come  to  attend 
the  public  sales  of  unseated  lands  that  then  sold  for 
only  four  or  five  dollars  an  acre.  ...  I  got  into  the 
stage  next  morning  for  Erie,  pretty  well  stiffened  up 
with  my  walk.  The  weather  had  become  very  cold  in 
the  night,  —  almost  zero,  —  and  with  no  overcoat  I  no 
doubt  looked  poor  indeed.  The  passengers  chatted  to- 
gether, but  none  noticed  me.  After  going  some  miles 
I  somehow  got  a  word  in  about  Philadelphia,  and  in  a 
little  time  a  very  kindly-looking  old  gentleman  asked 
me  if  I  was  acquainted  there.  "  Yes,  sir,"  I  replied,  "  I 
was  born  there."  "  Do  you  know  Mr.  Vanderkemp  ?  " 


THE  LIVING  MEMORY  331 

he  asked.  "  John  J.  Vanderkemp  ?  "  said  I.  "  The 
same,"  said  he.  "  No,  sir,"  I  replied,  "  but  my  father 
knows  him;  they  are  both  Germans,  and  are  acquainted." 
Looking  at  my  blue  tight-bodied  coat,  with  gilt  buttons 
—  then  in  fashion  —  buttoned  up  to  the  chin  to  keep 
out  the  cold,  and  no  overcoat  on,  he  said :  "  Now,  young 
man,  what  are  you  doing  out  hi  this  country  ?  "  I  ex- 
plained my  mishaps,  how  I  had  left  my  horse  and  over- 
coat in  Franklin,  and  had  to  walk  to  Meadville,  which 
accounted  for  my  stiffness,  and  told  him  that  when  we 
reached  Erie  I  would  buy  an  extra  overcoat.  I  wanted 
the  passengers  to  see  that  I  was  not  what  they  sus- 
pected, a  fraud.  In  a  short  time  we  stopped  to  change 
horses.  We  all  got  out  of  the  stage  and  went  to  the 
bar-room  to  warm.  A  large  trunk  was  hustled  out  of 
the  boot  of  the  stage,  and  brought  into  the  entry.  My 
new  acquaintance  opened  it;  took  from  it  an  elegant 
blue  cloth  cloak  that  he  quietly  unfolded  behind  me, 
and  placing  it  on  my  shoulders  and  arranging  it  about 
me,  said  in  a  sweet  voice  never  to  be  forgotten,  "  My 
lieber  friend,1  you  must  wear  this."  With  my  heart 
ready  to  break  I  stammered  out  as  best  I  could,  "  And 
to  whom  am  I  indebted  for  this  great  attention  and 
kindness  ? "  He  smilingly  said,  "  When  next  you  see 
my  friend  Vanderkemp  in  Philadelphia,  say  that  his  old 
friend  Huidekoper,  of  Meadville,  sends  his  best  respects 
to  him."  By  Mr.  Huidekoper's  advice  I  stopped  at  the 
Eagle  Hotel  in  Erie,  where  he  introduced  me  to  his  two 
sons,  and  by  his  particular  request  I  wore  his  cloak  back 
to  Franklin,  and  returned  it  by  the  stage-driver. 

We  have  seen  how  Mr.  Huidekoper  assisted  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Clarke  in  aiding  the  needy  as  far  afield  as  Louis- 
ville. His  relations  with  men  in  Philadelphia,  Boston, 
and  New  York  connected  him  with  the  large  cities,  and 
wherever  he  formed  connections  his  helping  hand  was 

1  Probably  "  Mein  lieber  Freund." 


332  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

felt.  Here  and  there  in  his  correspondence  are  preserved 
letters  begging  as  a  favor  that  this  or  that  friend  will 
draw  on  him  in  a  present  emergency,  or  instructing  his 
representatives  to  place  a  certain  sum  to  the  credit  of 
one  or  another  person.  He  settled,  for  example,  on  the 
widow  of  one  of  his  old  friends,  an  annuity  of  seven 
hundred  dollars  a  year.  So  numerous  were  those  who 
had  permission  to  use  his  name  in  providing  themselves 
that  "  Charge  it  to  Huidekoper  "  became  a  current  say- 
ing as  widely  known  as  "  Nobody  knows  but  Huide- 
koper, and  he  won't  tell."  "  Charge  it  to  Huidekoper" 
is  said  to  have  been  quoted  even  down  in  Virginia.  A 
trivial  echo  it  might  sound  to  the  uninitiated,  but  not 
to  those  to  whom  its  full  significance  is  known.  For  his 
contemporaries  drew  on  him  largely  for  more  than  this 
world's  goods,  and  of  his  abundance  he  freely  gave. 

It  was,  in  truth,  himself  even  more  than  his  deeds 
that  he  left  impressed  upon  the  minds  and  hearts  of 
his  friends  and  upon  the  community  in  which  he  moved. 
Just  as  the  people  from  the  farms,  glancing  half  ex- 
pectantly at  his  window,  continued  to  see  the  familiar 
face  in  the  rippled  pane,  so  even  the  stranger  in  Mead- 
ville  to-day  gathers  a  feeling  of  Mr.  Huidekoper's  pre- 
sence in  the  place.  It  is  not  only  that  the  townspeople 
still  point  out  landmarks  which  call  to  mind  his  public 
spirit  and  benevolence,1  nor  that  Huidekoper  Park,  a 
charming  bit  of  woods  set  apart  by  his  heirs  for  the 
playground  of  the  children  of  the  town,  recalls  his  name, 

1  One  such  landmark  is  a  block  of  houses  erected  by  him,  to  be  rented 
at  an  almost  nominal  price  to  women  in  straitened  circumstances.  Each 
house  was  divided  into  four  apartments,  and  each  apartment  had  four 
rooms.  The  apartments  were  let  to  widows  with  dependent  families,  or  to 
other  women  who  were  in  need.  The  block  is  still  standing  on  Water 
Street,  between  Poplar  and  Pine  streets. 


THE  LIVING  MEMORY  333 

nor  yet  that  the  good  works  of  his  descendants,  their 
interest  in  the  Theological  School,  the  Public  Library, 
the  hospitals,  keep  his  memory  green.  More  than  all 
these,  to  an  imagination  prepossessed  by  the  thought 
of  him,  do  the  very  streets  suggest  him.  They  were  the 
scene  of  his  daily  walk,  when  the  children  would  come 
running  and  dancing  from  their  gateways  to  catch  the 
sunshine  of  his  greeting ;  or  the  young  girl  upon  the 
house-steps  would  pause,  broom  in  hand,  to  hear  his 
genial  comment  on  her  industry,  and  its  result  in  the 
roses  in  her  cheeks.  The  knots  gossiping  on  the  street 
corners  might  again  be  awaiting  his  old-time  admoni- 
tion, "  Well,  don't  say  anything  more  about  it,  because 
you  know,  even  if  it 's  true,  what 's  only  an  elephant 
down  here  in  the  Marketplace  would  be  a  dinosaur  by 
the  time  it  reached  the  Diamond." 

If  we  must  take  leave  of  him  let  it  be  in  his  own 
home.  Says  a  letter  which  recalls  the  hospitality  of  Po- 
mona as  seen  through  the  vista  of  over  fifty  years :  — 

It  was  in  the  autumn  of  1852,  that  after  graduating 
at  the  Cambridge  Divinity  School,  I  made  a  journey  from 
Baltimore  to  Meadville  to  attend  the  commencement  ex- 
ercises at  the  Theological  School  in  the  latter  place.  At 
that  far-back  date  the  journey  was  not  so  trifling  an 
affair  as  it  is  to-day.  While  I  could  avail  myself  of  the 
railroad  as  far  as  Pittsburg,  it  was  necessary  for  the 
rest  of  the  way  to  betake  myself  to  the  canal-boat,  — 
really,  I  found,  to  any  one  disposed  to  linger  out  his 
blessings  at  the  rate  of  two  or  three  miles  an  hour,  ab- 
solutely the  most  delightful  way  of  travel  the  round 
world  ever  offered.  The  two  days'  trip  was  a  succession 
of  beautiful  pictures. 

Arriving  at  Meadville  near  sunset  of  the  second  day 
I  found  the  hospitality  of  the  village  fully  taxed  by  the 
large  number  of  visitors  from  the  surrounding  country, 


3&i  HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER 

as  well  as  of  friends  from  the  east.  Passing  over  any 
mention  of  the  graduating  exercises  of  the  occasion,  let 
me  go  on  at  once  to  describe  the  scene  presented  dur- 
ing the  entire  afternoon  by  the  social  gathering  at  the 
house  of  Mr.  Huidekoper. 

The  Pomona  Hall  of  that  date  was  a  long,  low  struc- 
ture of  wood,  painted  white  and  with  a  broad  roofed 
piazza  running  across  the  front,  the  whole  beautifully 
set  in  an  ample  domain  of  grass-land  shaded  by  noble 
oaks.  It  presented  the  image  of  domestic  comfort,  peace 
and  plenty.  The  afternoon  was  one  of  radiant  early 
autumn  beauty,  and  as  I  entered  the  grounds  and  passed 
through  groups  of  happy  people  to  the  wide  piazza  on 
which  the  genial  host  was  saluting  his  arriving  guests, 
the  heart-cheering  word  "  Welcome  "  was  everywhere 
proclaimed  by  full  bursts  of  sunshine  and  full  bursts  of 
cordial  human  love.  Now,  in  those  early  days  of  youth, 
I  chanced  to  be  an  enthusiastic  worshipper  of  personal 
beauty  whether  in  man  or  woman  ;  and  Mr.  Huidekoper 
forthwith  struck  me  as  being,  without  exception,  the 
most  ideally  beautiful  old  man  my  eyes  had  ever  lighted 
on.  His  hair  was  snowy  white,  his  figure  elastically 
graceful  as  a  willow  wand,  and  such  a  pair  of  cerulean 
blue  eyes  I  never  saw  in  any  human  head.  After  fifty 
years  I  can  still  see  them  as  distinctly  as  though  it  were 
but  yesterday  that  I  beheld  them.  They  seemed  made 
of  the  very  substance  of  the  blue  sky  itself,  but  lighted 
up  with  the  charm  of  a  long  and  richly  freighted  human 
experience. 

At  a  glance  it  was  clear  that  Mr.  Huidekoper  had  the 
qualities  of  the  perfect  host.  All  kinds  of  people  were 
gathered  together  to  celebrate  the  occasion.  There  were 
the  delegates  from  different  parts  of  the  country,  famil- 
iar with  the  part  he  had  played  in  organizing  the  forces 
of  education  and  religion  in  this  then  remote  region. 
There  were  the  ardent  converts  to  whom  this  Unitarian 
oasis  offered  the  living  springs  for  which  so  long  they 
had  panted  in  a  dry  and  thirsty  land ;  there  were  the 


THE  LIVING  MEMORY  335 

shy,  silent  adherents  of  the  new  faith,  drawn  in  from 
their  outlying  farms  by  this  festival,  as  by  the  more 
tumultuous  merry-makings  of  the  Fourths  of  July. 
Cultivated  or  uncouth,  city-bred  or  rustic,  whatever  the 
exterior  might  be,  it  was  the  personality  beneath  that 
the  sympathetic  host  at  once  got  into  touch  with,  and 
which  his  tactful  graciousness  called  forth  and  set  at 
ease.  When,  later  in  the  day,  I  found  an  opportunity 
to  talk  more  intimately  with  him,  all  that  I  had  heard 
was  more  than  confirmed  by  closer  knowledge.  Here, 
indeed,  was  the  simple,  kindly  Hollander,  the  success- 
ful American  pioneer,  the  indomitable  subduer  of  the 
wilderness,  the  eager  enlightener  and  student  of  ad- 
vancing biblical  criticism,  the  practical  Christian  with 
a  trace  yet  lingering  in  him  of  the  old  controversial 
fire,  and  yet,  above  and  beyond  all  else,  the  promoter  of 
good  works,  the  lover  of  his  kind." 

In  the  chapel  of  the  Meadville  Theological  School 
hangs  a  memorial  tablet.  It  is  inscribed  to  Harm  Jan 
Huidekoper,  and  reads:  "A  token  of  the  gratitude  of 
the  Alumni  of  this  School.  'The  Righteous  shall  be 
held  in  Everlasting  Remembrance.' ' 


APPENDIX 
I 

HOLLAND  LAND   COMPANY1 

WHO  were  the  individual  members  composing  the  association 
known  as  the  Holland  Land  Company,  is  not  shown,  so  far  as 
I  am  aware,  by  any  record  of  its  business  transactions.  Long 
and  unpronounceable  as  some  of  the  names  were  to  an  Amer- 
ican tongue,  the  association,  both  for  brevity  and  convenience, 
conducted  its  operation  by  chosen  members  acting  as  trustees, 
who  received  conveyances  to  themselves  for  the  lands  pur- 
chased from  the  Commonwealth  and  subsequently  gave  titles 
in  the  same  way  through  their  local  agents  to  parties  who  be- 
came sub-purchasers  under  them. 

In  "  Annals  of  the  West,"  published  in  1856  by  Jas.  R. 
Albach,  page  726,  it  is  stated  that  "  the  Holland  Land  Com- 
pany consisted  of  Wilhem  Willink  and  eleven  associates,  cap- 
italists of  Holland  who  had  lent  a  large  sum  of  money  to  the 
United  States  during  the  Revolution."  On  being  repaid  they 
preferred  to  keep  their  money  invested  in  the  United  States ; 
this  led  to  the  purchase  of  about  nine  hundred  thousand  acres 
of  land  in  Pennsylvania,  and  some  three  or  four  times  that 
amount  in  the  State  of  New  York.2 

With  regard  to  Pennsylvania  it  is  stated  in  "  Annals  of  the 
West,"  before  quoted,  that  in  the  course  of  their  operations 
"  they  paid  the  purchase  money  for  1162  warrants,  and  sur- 
veyed 1048  more  tracts  for  location." 

1  A  paper  (manuscript)  written  by  Alfred  Huidekoper  in  1876,  on  file 
with  the  Crawford  County  Historical  Society. 

2  Turner,  in  his  history  of  the  Holland  purchase  (in  State  of  New  York), 
page  427,  says  the  eleven  original  proprietors  constituting  the  Holland 
Land   Company  were  merchants  in  the  city  of  Amsterdam  (then  in  the 
Republic  of  Batavia). 


338  APPENDIX 

The  contract  for  the  purchase  of  the  above  eleven  hundred 
and  sixty-two  warrants  is  in  the  hands  of  the  writer  of  the 
present  monograph.  It  is  dated  the  21st  day  of  August,  A.  D. 
1793,  and  made  between  the  Hon.  James  Wilson  of  Philadel- 
phia, one  of  the  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States,  of  the  first  part,  and  Herman  Leroy  and  William 
Bayard,  both  of  the  city  of  New  York,  merchants  (agents  of 
Wilhem  Willink,  Nicholas  van  Staphorst,  Pieter  Stadnitski, 
Christian  van  Eeghen,  Hendrick  Vollenhoven,  and  Kutger 
Jan  Schimmelpenninck,  of  the  city  of  Amsterdam,  Gentle- 
men), of  the  second  part.  We  get  here  the  names  of  those 
who  either  constituted  or  represented  the  Association  known 
as  the  Holland  Land  Company,  at  the  beginning  of  its  land 
transactions  in  Pennsylvania.1 

The  contract  (to  state  its  contents  briefly)  was  for  the 
sale  and  purchase  of  499,660  acres  of  land  situate  on  French 
Creek  and  between  French  Creek  and  the  River  Allegheny  in 
the  State  of  Pennsylvania.  This  land,  it  was  stipulated,  should 
consist  partly  of  nine  hundred  and  twelve  tracts  of  four  hun- 
dred and  thirty  acres  each,  with  allowance  for  roads  and  high- 
ways, which  Mr.  John  Adlum,  by  a  contract  dated  the  26th 
day  of  April,  A.  D.  1793,  had  engaged  to  secure  to  the  said 
Judge  Wilson;  and  the  residue,  two  hundred  and  fifty  tracts, 
were  to  be  taken  from  lands  entered  for  Judge  Wilson  by  Mr. 
James  Chapman,  convenient  to  the  first  named  lands  in  point 
of  location,  and  with  the  right  of  the  Holland  Company,  if  not 
content,  to  substitute  other  lands  to  its  liking  situate  east  of 
French  Creek. 

1  The  names  of  P.  Stadnitski,  Christian  van  Eeghen,  Hen[d]rick  Vol- 
lenboven,  and  Nicholas  van  Staphorst,  members  of  the  Holland  Land 
Company,  are  also  on  the  list  of  members  of  the  Pennsylvania  Population 
Company,  as  are  also  the  names  of  Mr.  T.  Cazenove,  J.  Vollenhoven,  and 
Pieter  van  Eeghen.  The  latter  was  made  trustee  of  the  Holland  Land 
Company  title  on  24  September,  1824,  and  on  25  September,  1825,  recon- 
veyed  the  title  to  Wilhem  Willink,  Hendrick  Vollenhoven,  Rutger  Jan 
Schimmelpenninck,  Wilhem  Willink,  Junr.,  Walrave  van  Henkelom,  Jan 
van  Eeghen  and  Gerrit  Schimmelpeniiinck,  as  shown  on  page  340. 


APPENDIX  339 

The  price  to  be  paid  for  the  land  (499,660  acres)  was  to  be 
three  shillings  f  ourpence  per  acre,  the  six  per  cent,  of  allowance 
for  roads  not  to  be  included  in  the  estimate  ;  and  the  money 
to  be  paid  as  fast  as  required ;  with  a  provision  in  the  con- 
tract that  out  of  the  money  advanced,  he  should  hold  four 
thousand  and  sixty-seven  pounds  for  fees  and  expenses  of 
surveying;  three  thousand  eight  hundred  and  ninety-two 
pounds  fourteen  shillings  for  fees  of  patenting  the  tracts ;  two 
thousand  six  hundred  and  fourteen  pounds  ten  shillings  to 
pay  to  the  Receiver  of  the  Land  Office  General  for  thirty 
acres  of  excess  or  overplus  land  in  each  warrant ;  and  nine 
hundred  and  seventy-eight  pounds  for  interest  on  the  pur- 
chase money  to  the  State  since  the  day  of  application. 

Judge  Wilson,  on  his  part,  seems  to  have  turned  over  to  the 
Holland  Land  Company  temporarily,  as  security  for  the  faith- 
ful performance  of  his  covenants,  a  lot  of  three  hundred  and 
three  warrants  held  by  him,  taken  in  the  names  of  Herman 
Leroy  and  Jan  Lincklaen  ;  subject  to  being  returned  on  stip- 
ulated conditions  being  complied  with,  and  covenanting  on 
his  part  that  he  would  get  and  deliver  to  the  Company  a  re- 
ceipt from  the  land  office  for  the  payment  of  the  purchase 
money  for  the  499,660  acres  of  land  stated  in  the  contract ; 
that  he  would  have  the  lands  run  off,  and  cause  the  surveys  to 
be  returned,  and  patents  to  be  duly  issued  and  delivered  to 
the  Company  for  the  same. 

In  accordance  with  this  agreement  surveys  were  made,  and 
patents  for  the  most  of  the  tracts  were  made  prior  to  the  year 
1800  to  all  the  trustees  before  named  representing  the  Hol- 
land Company  ;  and  subsequently  for  some  tracts  in  the  name 
of  Wilhem  Willink,  Hendrick  Vollenhoven,  and  Rutger  Jan 
Schimmelpenninck,  who  had  survived  Nicholas  van  Staphorst, 
Christian  van  Eeghen,  and  Pieter  Stadnitski. 

The  patents  conveyed  the  title  of  the  Commonwealth  to  the 
land  to  the  grantees  subject  to  the  usual  reservation  of  one 
fifth  of  all  the  gold  and  silver  ore  that  might  be  discovered 
thereon  deliverable  at  the  pit's  mouth. 


340  APPENDIX 

In  consequence  of  the  death  of  three  of  the  trustees,  above 
indicated,  an  act  of  Assembly  was  passed  on  the  31st  day  of 
March,  1823,  authorizing  Wilhem  Willink,  Hendrick  Vol- 
lenhoven,  and  Rutger  Jan  Schimmelpenninck,  the  surviving 
parties,  and  the  survivor  of  them  to  grant  and  convey  all  the 
lands,  and  all  the  interest  and  titles  attaching  to  said  lands 
in  this  Commonwealth,  to  any  person  or  persons  whatsoever, 
though  such  person  or  persons  should  be  aliens,  either  abso- 
lutely or  in  trust,  upon  such  terms  and  conditions  as  to  them 
or  the  survivor  of  them  may  seem  fit ;  and  authorizing  such 
grantee  or  grantees,  though  aliens,  to  hold  and  convey  such 
lands  within  the  State  upon  the  terms  and  conditions  of  the 
grant  made  to  them. 

In  conformity  with  this  act  of  Assembly,  which  was  probably 
passed  to  provide  for  this  individual  case,  on  the  24th  day  of 
September,  1824,  Wilhem  Willink,  Hendrick  Vollenhoven, 
and  Rutger  Jan  Schimmelpenninck  made  a  conveyance  of  all 
their  lands  and  interests  growing  out  of  the  same,  situate  in  the 
State  of  Pennsylvania  and  north  and  west  of  the  rivers  Ohio 
and  Allegheny  and  Conewango  Creek,  to  Pieter  van  Eeghen, 
of  the  city  of  Amsterdam,  in  the  kingdom  of  the  Nether- 
lands, in  trust  that  he  should  immediately  reconvey  the  same 
to  the  said  Wilhem  Willink,  Hendrick  Vollenhoven,  and 
Rutger  Jan  Schimmelpenninck,  together  with  Walrave  van 
Henkelom,  Jan  van  Eeghen,  Wilhem  Willink,  Junior,  and 
Gerrit  Schimmelpenninck  (Rutger  Jan's  son),  and  on  the 
25th  day  of  September,  A.  D.  1824,  Pieter  van  Eeghen  made 
a  reconveyance  of  the  lands  and  interest  deeded  to  him  in 
trust  as  aforesaid,  to  the  above-named  seven  parties,  who  held 
the  title  and  represented  the  Holland  Land  Company  in  Penn- 
sylvania until  the  23d  day  of  December,  1839,  when  all  that 
remained  of  the  concern  in  Erie,  Crawford,  Warren,  and 
Venango  counties  was  conveyed  to  H.  J.  Huidekoper,  who 
had  made  a  contract  for  the  purchase  of  the  same  on  the  31st 
day  of  December,  A.  D.  1836,  at  the  price  of  %  178,400,- 
the  contract  embracing  some  small  interests  acquired  by  the 


APPENDIX  341 

Company  in  the  course  of  its  dealings  in  Otsego  and  Che- 
nango  counties  in  the  State  of  New  York  and  in  Berkshire 
County  in  the  State  of  Massachusetts. 

Having  shown  in  a  brief  way  the  chain  of  title  of  the  Com- 
pany to  its  lands  in  northwestern  Pennsylvania,  from  its  in- 
ception from  the  Commonwealth  down  to  its  final  vendee,  I 
go  back  to  notice  the  legislation  which  gave  it  encouragement 
to  buy,  and  to.  the  conditions  of  settlement  attached  to  the 
sale  to  it  of  the  lands  in  question,  which  latter,  owing  to  sub- 
sequent events,  led  to  a  protracted  controversy  between  the 
Commonwealth  and  the  Company,  and  between  the  latter  and 
intruders  on  its  lands,  in  which  conflict  the  result  was  finally 
favorable  to  the  Company. 

An  act  of  Assembly  passed  the  llth  day  of  February, 
A.  D.  1789,  recited  "  That  whereas  the  empowering  of  aliens 
to  purchase  and  hold  lands,  tenements,  and  hereditaments, 
within  this  Commonwealth  would  have  a  tendency  to  pro- 
mote the  public  benefit,  not  only  by  inducing  large  sums  of 
money  into  this  state,  but  also  by  inducing  such  aliens  as 
may  have  acquired  property,  to  follow  their  interest,  and  be- 
come useful  citizens :  Be  it  therefore  enacted  that,  until  the 
first  day  of  January  A.  D.  1792,  it  shall  and  may  be  lawful 
for  every  foreigner  or  foreigners,  alien  or  aliens,  not  being  the 
subject  or  subjects  of  some  sovereign  state  or  power,  which 
is,  or  shall  be  at  the  time  of  such  purchase  at  war  with  the 
United  States  of  America,  to  purchase  lands,  tenements,  and 
hereditaments  within  this  Commonwealth  and  to  have  and  to 
hold  the  same  to  them,  their  heirs,  and  assigns,  for  ever,  as 
fully,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  as  any  natural  born  subject 
or  subjects  may  or  can  do." 

The  foregoing  act  having  expired  on  the  1st  of  January, 
A.  D.  1792,  was  by  an  act  of  the  8th  of  March,  A.  D.  1792, 
extended  for  three  years  after  the  latter  date  and  to  the  end 
of  the  session  of  the  Assembly  next  ensuing. 

This  extension  includes  and  more  than  covers  the  date  of 
the  Company's  purchase  through  Judge  Wilson. 


342  APPENDIX 

The  act  of  Assembly  of  the  3d  of  April,  1792,  in  sub- 
jection to  which  the  Holland  Company  purchase  was  made, 
after  reciting  in  its  preamble  that  the  most  valuable  lands 
within  the  purchase  made  from  the  Indians  in  the  year  1768 
had  already  been  taken  up,  and  that  settlers  were  discouraged 
from  purchasing  the  remaining  inferior  lands  at  the  then 
established  prices,  proceeds  to  fix  the  price  of  land  east  of  the 
Allegheny  River  included  in  the  purchase  of  1768  referred 
to  at  five  pounds  for  every  hundred  acres  thereof,  and  for 
land  included  in  said  purchase  lying  north  and  west  of  the 
Rivers  Ohio  and  Allegheny  and  Conewango  Creek,  to  per- 
sons who  will  cultivate,  or  cause  the  same  to  be  cultivated, 
improved,  and  settled,  at  the  price  of  seven  pounds  ten  shil- 
lings for  every  hundred  acres  thereof,  with  an  allowance  of 
six  per  cent,  for  roads  and  highways. 

In  regard  to  these  latter  lands  the  act  of  Assembly  con- 
tained the  following  important  proviso,  viz  :  "  That  no  war- 
rant or  survey  to  be  issued  or  made  in  pursuance  of  this  act 
for  lands  lying  north  and  west  of  the  Rivers  Ohio  and  Alle- 
gheny and  Conewango  Creek  shall  vest  any  title  in  or  to  the 
lands  therein  mentioned,  unless  the  grantee  has  prior  to  the 
date  of  said  warrant,  made,  or  caused  to  be  made,  or  shall 
within  two  years  next  after  the  date  of  the  same,  make  or 
cause  to  be  made,  an  actual  settlement  thereon,  by  clearing, 
fencing  and  cultivating  at  least  two  acres  for  every  hundred 
acres  contained  in  one  survey,  erecting  thereon  a  messuage 
for  the  habitation  of  man,  and  residing  or  causing  a  family  to 
reside  thereon  for  the  space  of  five  years  next  following  his 
first  settling  of  the  same,  if  he  or  she  shall  so  long  live ;  and 
in  default  of  such  actual  settlement  and  residence,  it  shall  be 
lawful  to  and  for  this  Commonwealth  to  issue  new  warrants 
to  other  actual  settlers  for  the  said  lands  or  any  part  thereof 
reciting  the  original  warrants  and  that  actual  settlements  and 
residence  have  not  been  made  in  pursuance  thereof,  and  so  as 
often  as  defaults  shall  be  made  for  the  time  and  in  the  man- 
ner aforesaid,  which  new  grants  shall  be  under  and  subject  to 


APPENDIX  343 

all  and  every  the  regulations  contained  in  this  act.  Provided 
always,  nevertheless,  that  if  any  such  actual  settler  or  any 
grantee  in  any  such  original  or  succeeding  warrant,  shall  by 
force  of  arms  of  enemies  of  the  United  States,  be  prevented 
from  making  such  actual  settlement,  or  be  driven  therefrom, 
and  shall  persist  in  his  endeavor  to  make  such  actual  settle- 
ment as  aforesaid,  then,  in  either  case,  he  and  his  heirs  shall 
be  entitled,  to  have,  and  to  hold  the  said  lands,  in  the  same 
manner  as  if  the  actual  settlement  had  been  made  and  con- 
tinued." 

In  pursuance  of  the  contract  hereinbefore  referred  to,  the 
Hon.  James  Wilson  for  Messrs.  Leroy  and  Bayard  on  behalf 
of  Wilhem  Willink  and  others  heretofore  named,  paid  to  the 
land  office  of  the  State  on  the  21st  day  of  August,  A.  D.  1793, 
the  sum  of  thirty-four  thousand  eight  hundred  and  sixty 
pounds,  specie,  being  the  purchase  money  for  464,800  acres 
of  land  situate  on  the  north  and  west  side  of  the  Rivers  Ohio 
and  Allegheny  and  Conewango  Creek,  in  (then)  Allegheny 
County,  granted  to  them  by  1162  warrants  of  400  acres  each, 
as  is  shown  by  the  original  receipt  given  therefor  now  in  my 
possession. 

When  it  is  recollected  that  in  1792  Crawford  County  was 
wholly  abandoned  for  a  time  on  account  of  Indian  invasions, 
and  that  in  the  summer  of  1793  another  general  stampede 
took  place  on  notice  being  given  by  a  friendly  Indian  chief 
of  impending  danger,  it  will  readily  be  seen  that  the  taking 
out  by  the  Holland  Land  Company  of  1162  warrants,  each 
one  representing  a  tract  of  land  to  be  settled  upon  within  two 
years,  was  an  enterprise  involving  a  great  deal  of  labor  and 
risk.  Indian  forages  attended  with  destruction  of  life  were 
rife  as  late  as  the  year  1795,  when  finally  the  treaty  of  Gen- 
eral Wayne,  made  on  the  3d  of  August  of  that  year,  and 
ratified  on  the  22d  of  December  following,  removed  one  of 
the  impediments  to  western  emigration. 

Grave  questions  soon  presented  themselves  as  to  the  condi- 
tion of  the  Company's  title  in  view  of  settlements  interrupted 


344  APPENDIX 

or  omitted  in  consequence  of  the  Indian  hostilities,  and  as  to 
what,  if  any,  further  efforts  the  Company  was  obliged  to  make 
in  that  direction  under  the  excusing  provisions  of  the  law. 

On  the  16th  of  December,  1797,  the  Board  of  Property 
drew  up  a  formula  for  the  obtaining  patents  where  the  settle- 
ment had  been  complied  with,  and  also,  under  the  advice  of 
Mr.  Jared  Ingersoll,  the  Attorney-General,  a  form  to  be  used 
for  obtaining  the  Commonwealth  title  where  the  circum- 
stances, adverted  to  in  the  law,  made  the  omission  of  settle- 
ment and  residence  justifiable. 

The  patents  issued  to  the  Holland  Land  Company  prior  to 
1800  were  of  the  latter  class,  the  instrument  setting  forth 
the  exculpatory  hostilities  ;  and  to  distinguish  them  from  the 
other  kind  of  patents,  they  were  designated  as  "  prevention 
patents." 

A  new  Board  of  Property  in  the  year  1800  having  refused 
to  grant  patents  under  the  precedent  established  by  the  former 
Board,  on  the  2d  of  April,  1802,  the  Legislature  passed  an 
act  to  settle  the  controversies  arising  from  contending  claims 
to  lands  north  and  west  of  the  Ohio  and  Allegheny  rivers 
and  Conewango  Creek,  and  the  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court 
were  ordered  to  devise  an  issue  for  trying  sundry  legal  ques- 
tions set  forth  in  the  act. 

The  judges  devised  a  feigned  issue  as  required  in  the  form 
of  a  proceeding  by  the  Attorney-General  vs.  the  Grantees 
under  the  act  of  April,  1792,  and,  after  public  notice  to  all 
interested,  that  if  they  would  appear  they  might  be  heard, 
Justices  Yeates,  Smith,  and  Brackenridge  assembled  at  Sun- 
bury  on  the  25th  of  November,  1802,  and  impanelling  a 
jury  proceeded  to  try  the  points  of  law  submitted  to  them  by 
the  Legislature. 

Messrs.  J.  Ingersoll,  W.  Lewis,  and  A.  J.  Dallas,  counsel 
for  the  Holland  Land  Company  (notified  of  the  proceedings), 
in  a  courteous  note  declined  to  take  any  part  in  the  trial  or 
pleadings,  because  they  considered  the  abstract  questions  pro- 
posed for  decision  by  the  Legislature  would  leave  untouched 


APPENDIX  345 

and  undecided  the  great  essential  part  of  the  controversy.  See 
4  Dallas's  Rep.  237. 

At  the  September  term  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Pennsyl- 
vania in  the  case  of  the  Commonwealth  vs.  Tench  Coxe  (see 
4  Dallas  Pa.  Eep.  170),  the  Holland  Land  Company  had 
entered  a  rule  directed  to  the  secretary  of  the  Land  Office, 
to  show  cause  why  a  mandamus  should  not  be  issued  to  him 
by  the  court  compelling  him  to  prepare  and  deliver  patents 
to  the  Company  for  the  lands  for  which  warrants  were  held 
by  it  under  the  act  of  3d  of  April,  1792. 

In  support  of  its  application  for  the  mandamus  the  Com- 
pany showed  what  it  considered  strong  legal  and  equitable 
grounds  why  it  should  be  granted.  The  main  object  of  the 
sale  to  it,  the  replenishing  of  the  State  treasury,  had  been 
accomplished  by  the  Company  paying  into  it  a  sum  of  over 
two  hundred  and  twenty-two  thousand  dollars.  It  was  not 
until  a  year  or  two  after  the  taking  out  of  the  warrants, 
say  the  years  1794  and  1795,  that  deputy  surveyors  could 
be  prevailed  upon  to  risk  the  making  of  the  necessary  sur- 
veys to  locate  the  warrants.  In  1795  a  general  agent  had 
been  appointed  to  superintend  its  affairs,  and  a  large  store 
was  built  at  Meadville  and  a  sum  exceeding  $5,000  was  dis- 
bursed. 

In  1796  companies  of  settlers  were  invited,  encouraged, 
and  engaged;  ample  supplies  of  provisions,  implements,  and 
utensils  were  sent  into  the  country ;  the  expense  of  trans- 
porting families  was  liberally  advanced ;  a  bounty  of  one  hun- 
dred acres  was  given  for  improving  and  settling  each  tract, 
and  a  further  sum  of  $22,000  was  actually  disbursed.  In  the 
year  1797  a  sum  of  about  $40,000  was  further  expended  in 
promoting  the  same  objects,  including  payments  on  contracts 
for  settlement  and  quieting  adverse  claims. 

In  1798  mills  were  erected,  roads  were  opened,  and  other 
exertions  made  at  a  charge  of  not  less  than  $30,000.  In  the 
year  1799  the  sum  of  $40,000  and  upwards  was  expended  in 
improvements  and  settlements,  in  the  salaries  of  its  agents 


*46  APPENDIX 

and  workmen  in  opening  and  repairing  roads,  and  in  patent- 
ing 876  tracts  of  land ;  and  showing  that  by  the  close  of  the 
year  1800  about  $400,000  would  have  been  expended  in  all 
in  the  enterprise  undertaken  by  it.  The  Company  claimed  the 
Indian  hostilities  existing  until  the  year  1796  met  the  case 
provided  for  in  the  act  of  1792,  that  should  excuse  the  war- 
rantees from  the  prescribed  conditions  of  settlement  and  im- 
provement ;  notwithstanding  which  an  active  and  substantial 
effort  in  that  direction  had  been  made  by  it. 

The  case  was  elaborately  and  ably  argued  by  the  attorneys 
on  both  sides.  Chief  Justice  Shippen  was  of  the  opinion  that 
the  state  of  hostility  and  danger  shown  to  have  existed  after 
the  taking  out  of  the  warrants  was  a  sufficient  legal  excuse 
for  non-performance  of  settlement  and  improvements,  on  a 
reasonable  and  fair  interpretation  of  the  law  under  which  the 
grant  was  made,  and  that  the  Company  was  entitled,  on  the 
showing  it  had  made,  to  its  patents. 

Justices  Yeates  and  Smith,  holding  that  the  hostilities 
shown  only  deferred,  but  did  not  excuse,  a  subsequent  per- 
formance of  the  conditions,  and  non-concurring  with  the  Chief 
Justice  (they  being  a  majority  on  the  bench),  the  rule  for  a 
writ  of  mandamus  was  dismissed. 

We  reach  next  in  the  progress  of  events  the  case  of  Huide- 
koper's  Lessee  vs.  Douglass,  tried  at  the  April  term  of  the 
United  States  Circuit  Court  of  Pennsylvania  in  1805  before 
Marshall,  Chief  Justice,  Washington,  Associate  Judge  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  and  Peters,  District  Judge.  In  many  quar- 
ters great  interest  was  felt  in  the  result  of  this  trial.  Many 
cases  of  ejectment  were  pending,  which  would  probably  be 
governed  by  the  ruling  of  the  Court  in  its  construction  of  the 
law  of  1792.  Judges  Washington  and  Peters  had  disagreed 
in  a  case  before  them,  that  they  might  have  the  benefit  of  a 
decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  to  guide  them  at  the  final 
ruling  of  the  same. 

A  comprehensive  statement  of  what  were  supposed  to  be 
the  true  points  in  controversy  was  carefully  drawn  up,  and 


APPENDIX  347 

argued  by  E.  Tilghman,  Ingersoll,  Lewis,  and  Dallas  for  the 
plaintiff,  and  by  McKean  (Attorney-General  of  Pennsylvania) 
and  W.  Tilghman  for  the  defendant.  (See  4  Dallas  Pa.  Rep. 
392.) 

Chief  Justice  Marshall,  who  delivered  the  opinion  of  the 
Court,  subjected  the  law  of  1792  to  that  searching  analysis 
characteristic  of  his  mind.  He  showed  that  the  inconsistency 
of  the  law  came  from  the  Legislature  having  used  common 
terms  to  two  classes  of  subjects,  to  which  subjects  common 
terms  could  not  be  applied  grammatically,  and  without  creat- 
ing confusion  as  to  the  intent  of  the  law.  Getting  at  the  sense 
of  the  law  by  applying  to  each  subject  that  which  would  ra- 
tionally belong  to  it,  he  made  one  part  of  it  apply  to  a  settler 
who  had  gone  onto  land,  and  made  his  settlement  a  stepping 
stone  towards  getting  a  warrant  for  the  tract,  and  other  ex- 
pressions in  the  law  apply  to  those  who,  having  paid  the  pur- 
chase money,  and  taken  out  warrants,  were  required  to  make 
a  settlement  afterwards  unless  excused  by  circumstances  ex- 
pressed in  the  law. 

The  exculpatory  section  of  the  law  was  as  follows :  "  Pro- 
vided always,  nevertheless,  that  if  any  such  actual  settler  or 
any  grantee,  in  any  such  original  or  succeeding  warrant,  shall, 
by  force  of  arms  of  the  enemies  of  the  United  States,  be  pre- 
vented from  making  such  actual  settlement,  or  be  driven  there- 
from, and  shall  persist  in  his  endeavors  to  make  such  actual 
settlement  as  aforesaid,  then,  in  either  case,  he  and  his  heirs 
shall  be  entitled  to  have  and  to  hold  the  said  lands,  in  the 
same  manner  as  if  the  actual  settlement  had  been  made  and 
continued."  This  latter  clause  the  Chief  Justice  showed  would 
have  no  significance  whatever,  if,  as  the  Commonwealth's  at- 
torneys claimed,  the  warrantees  were  bound  to  persist  in  en- 
deavors while  foreign  hostilities  existed,  and  when  they  ceased 
were  then  bound  to  make  the  settlement  originally  required 
of  them. 

Under  this  ruling  the  case  was  submitted  to  a  jury  and  a 
verdict  rendered  for  the  plaintiff. 


348  APPENDIX 

The  decision  was  accepted  by  a  portion  of  the  State  judges 
from  conformity  with  personal  opinions,  and  from  conviction 
of  its  propriety ;  and  submitted  to  with  good  grace  by  others 
because  it  was  provided  hi  the  United  States  Constitution  that 
the  national  courts  should  have  jurisdiction  in  controversies 
between  a  State  and  the  subjects  of  foreign  powers.  Yet  some 
of  the  contemporaneous  judges,  and  later  ones,  chafed  at  the 
thought  that  a  decision  of  the  national  court  should  dominate 
over  that  of  a  State  court  in  the  construing  of  a  provincial 
law.  But  as  one  of  the  State  judges  naively  said,  what  could 
the  State  courts  do  when,  if  they  put  a  man  into  possession 
one  day,  the  national  courts  could  turn  him  out  the  next? 

To  an  unprejudiced  mind  the  case  under  consideration 
would  seem  to  be  an  eminently  fit  one  to  be  determined  by 
the  federal  court. 

In  1793,  when  the  Company  made  its  purchase,  a  State, 
like  an  individual,  was  subject  to  court  jurisdiction,  but  at  the 
close  of  the  year,  by  an  amendment  to  the  national  constitu- 
tion, it  was  enacted  that  the  judicial  power  of  the  United 
States  shall  not  be  construed  to  extend  to  any  suit  in  law  or 
equity  commenced  or  prosecuted  against  one  of  the  United 
States  by  citizens  of  another  State,  or  by  citizens  or  subjects 
of  any  foreign  state.  Here,  then,  was  a  change  in  the  extent 
of  legal  redress  allowed  to  one  of  the  parties.  A  State  stands 
on  its  dignity ;  nothing  less  than  another  State  can  compel  it 
to  submit  to  the  arbitrament  of  law.  But  a  State  that  stands 
on  its  dignity  should  always  exhibit  the  highest  principles  of 
honor  when  dealing  with  a  weaker  party.  That  it  may  not 
thus  govern  itself,  is  suggested  by  the  clause  in  the  national 
constitution  which,  among  other  restrictions,  prohibits  a  State 
from  passing  any  law  impairing  the  obligation  of  contracts, 
and  its  capability  of  doing  wrong  is  more  plainly  shown  in  the 
blot  that  now  rests  upon  the  State  of  Minnesota,  which  it  is 
to  be  hoped  the  sober  second  thought  of  its  citizens  will  soon 
remove. 

If  a  State  might  not  violate  a  contract  by  legislation,  it 


APPENDIX  349 

would  not  be  proper  for  it  to  do  it  by  action.  The  relation  of 
the  State  and  the  Holland  Company  was  that  of  vendor  and 
vendee.  The  State  had  declared  at  what  price  and  on  what 
conditions  it  would  sell  its  West  Allegheny  lands.  The  Com- 
pany purchased  a  large  number  of  warrants,  paid  the  price 
into  the  State  treasury,  and  accepted  the  conditions.  The  State 
had  specified  upon  the  happening  of  what  adverse  circum- 
stances the  full  performance  of  the  conditions  would  not  be 
demanded.  The  Company  showed  a  vigorous,  faithful  effort 
at  performance,  and  the  actual  happening  of  the  adverse  cir- 
cumstances which  it  claimed  should  exempt  it  from  further 
effort.  Some  of  the  best  lawyers  and  judges  in  the  State 
thought  the  view  of  matters  taken  by  the  Company  was  the 
correct  one.  Other  judges  very  honestly  thought  that  the  re- 
quirement of  settlement  was  only  postponed  and  not  released 
by  intervening  hostilities ;  while  a  third  class  on  the  bench 
talked  flippantly  of  confiscation  and  reclaiming  the  lands  by 
the  State ;  this  latter  doctrine  was  a  popular  one  with  the  un- 
scrupulous elements  in  society.  The  State  had  replenished  its 
treasury  once  by  a  sale  of  these  lands ;  if  it  seize  and  resell 
them  and  fill  its  treasury  again,  all  the  inhabitants  from  the 
farm  to  the  forum  would  in  one  sense  be  benefited  by  it. 
Contention  was  growing  every  day  more  violent  between  par- 
ties settling  under  the  Company  and  parties  settling  adversely. 
Members  of  Assembly  got  their  bias  from  their  surroundings, 
and  it  is  possible  that  even  judges  might  not  be  free  from 
similar  influences.  What,  then,  could  have  been  fairer  than 
for  the  State  to  have  turned  the  whole  question  over  to  the 
federal  judiciary,  composed  of  men  of  eminent  legal  ability 
and  free  from  any  suspicions  of  partiality? 

The  Commonwealth  hesitated  and  temporized ;  on  the 
20th  of  March,  1811,  an  act  was  passed  relative  to  compro- 
mises between  intruders  and  the  warrant-holders  validating 
the  same,  and  declaring  that  if  the  improvement  and  residence 
had  been  made  and  kept  up  as  required  by  the  act  of  1792, 
though  after  the  limit  of  time  specified  in  the  law,  the  same 


350  APPENDIX 

would  be  accepted  by  the  Commonwealth  and  make  perfect 
the  title  to  the  land  so  settled  on.  The  act  provided  for 
service  of  any  civil  process  on  the  agent  or  attorney  in  fact 
of  the  Holland  Land  Company,  the  Pennsylvania  Population 
Company,  and  the  North  American  Land  Company  or  other 
warrant-holders ;  and  also  declared  that  if  a  warrantee  on  or 
before  the  first  day  of  June,  1813,  should  give  a  deed  for  150 
acres  of  land  to  any  settler  who  might  have  entered  and  made 
the  improvement  and  kept  up  the  residence  required  by  the 
act  of  1792,  then  the  Commonwealth  would  cease  to  have  any 
further  claim  to  said  tract.  The  time  was  extended  in  1817 
and  again  in  1818,  extended  to  April,  1819. 

As  early  as  May,  1800,  in  the  case  of  Morris  Lessee  vs. 
Neighman  (4  Dallas  Rep.  209),  it  had  been  decided  by 
Judges  Yeates  and  Smith  that  a  warrantee  did  not  forfeit 
his  rights  by  not  making  a  settlement  within  two  years  from 
the  date  of  his  warrant,  and  if  he  did,  the  Commonwealth 
alone  could  take  advantage  of  it  by  issuing  new  warrants  in 
a  form  prescribed  by  law.  This  decision  was  to  some  extent 
protective  to  all  the  land  companies,  many  of  the  intruders 
on  their  lands  wishing  to  self-appropriate  their  surveys  and 
settlements  for  a  time  abandoned  without  the  trouble  or  ex- 
pense of  a  vacating  warrant. 

The  Holland  Company  seems  to  have  relied  firmly  on  the 
decision  in  its  favor  by  the  United  States  Court.  It  claimed 
to  have  complied  with  its  covenants  so  far  as  it  could  under 
the  circumstances ;  and  that  it  was  legally  released  from  obli- 
gation to  do  anything  farther  to  perfect  its  title  by  the  hap- 
pening of  hostilities  as  specified  in  the  Act  of  Assembly.  If 
it  was  right  and  had  performed  its  contract,  the  Common- 
wealth could  not  make  legally  any  new  requirements  by  ex 
post  facto  legislation.  For  the  Company  to  make  concessions 
was  to  acknowledge  itself  in  default,  to  weaken  its  title,  and 
to  involve  itself  in  a  great  readily  foreseen  amount  of  trouble 
and  expense. 

Some  of  the  occupiers  of  its  lands  had  gone  on  them  inde- 


APPENDIX  361 

pendently  and  were  designated  in  rustic  dialect  as  "  squat- 
ters." Others  had  gone  on  under  agreement  with  the  Company 
to  make  the  required  settlement,  for  which,  in  addition  to  the 
help  given  them,  they  were  to  receive  one  hundred  acres  of 
the  land  gratuitously,  with  the  privilege  of  purchasing  more 
at  $1.50  per  acre.  Some  of  the  latter  were  true  to  their  con- 
tracts, while  a  portion  repudiated  their  agreements  and  set 
up  personal  claims  to  the  entire  tract  in  opposition  to  the 
warrantee. 

The  Company  kept  its  faith  with  those  who  were  honest, 
compromised  with  those  who  proved  to  be  reasonable  in  their 
demands,  and  contested  titles  in  court  with  those  who  were 
disposed  to  fight  and  controvert  things  to  the  bitter  end. 

Such  conflicting  views  and  actions  of  men  who  were  neigh- 
bors produced  an  unpleasant  state  of  society. 

The  State  courts,  with  a  little  natural  bias  to  the  weaker  side, 
held  the  scales  of  justice  with  a  pretty  even  hand,  ruling  each 
case  as  it  presented  its  exceptional  facts  to  the  application  of 
general  principles.  No  law  ever  enacted  in  Pennsylvania  led  to 
so  much  litigation,  or  called  for  such  elaborate  consideration  on 
the  part  of  the  bench  and  bar,  as  the  one  in  question,  and  any 
one  curious  to  see  what  different  constructions  can  be  put  on 
the  same  words  by  able  logicians  and  jurists  can  find  out  by 
reading  through  the  reports  of  decisions  of  cases  arising  under 
the  Act  of  1792. 

In  the  course  of  time,  the  confusion  and  clash  of  power  that 
would  arise  from  conflicting  interpretation  of  State  laws  by 
the  national  and  State  courts  induced  the  judges  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States  to  adopt,  as  a  rule  for  its  future 
action,  that  in  construing  a  State  law,  it  would  follow  the  con- 
struction given  to  it  (if  any)  by  the  highest  judicial  tribunal 
of  the  State  itself.  This  did  not  necessarily  imply  that  the 
U.  S.  Supreme  Court  would  recede  from  any  decision  it  had 
already  made,  but  simply  that  it  would  in  the  future  follow 
where  the  highest  court  of  a  State  had  preceded  it  in  giving 
construction  to  a  State  enactment. 


362  APPENDIX 

This  new  attitude  with  regard  to  State  court  decisions,  and 
the  diversity  of  views  held  by  the  judges  then  on  the  bench, 
revived  the  flagging  hopes  of  a  set  of  men,  who  might  perhaps 
not  unjustly  be  characterized  as  land  pirates,  urged  on  by 
some  lawyers  by  no  means  destitute  of  ability,  who  were  to 
make  a  combined  attack  on  the  warrant-holders,  and  get  com- 
pensation for  so  doing  by  a  division  of  the  spoils.  This  enter- 
prise, which  had  nearly  matured  and  about  which  vague  hints 
had  been  thrown  out,  was  nipped  in  the  bud  by  the  act  of 
April  3,  1833,  which  dispensed  with  the  settlement  and  im- 
provement required  by  the  act  of  1792,  and  authorized  patents 
to  be  issued  wherever  lands  had  been  surveyed  and  paid  for, 
with  a  proviso  that  neither  the  law  nor  the  patents  issued 
under  it  should  have  any  effect  on  suits  pending  or  titles  rest- 
ing on  settlements  made  under  the  original  act. 

I  recall  no  case  after  this  of  conflict  of  the  Company  title 
with  that  of  a  party  claiming  under  a  vacating  warrant,  except 
the  suit  of  Sweeny  et  al.  vs.  Sheffield,  tried  in  1845,  reported 
in  1  Barr's  Rep.  463,  in  the  trial  of  which  I  took  part.  The 
warrant  title  was  sustained  by  showing  a  settlement  of  sufficient 
length  to  comply  with  the  law  before  the  vacating  warrant  was 
taken  out,  and  the  prior  settlement  was  held  to  inure  for  the 
benefit  of  the  warrant-holder,  although  the  evidence  which 
should  show  a  relation  between  the  warrant  and  the  settlement 
from  lapse  of  time  had  been  lost. 

I  now  turn  away  from  the  history  of  this  long  controversy, 
having  aimed  to  state  it  with  all  the  brevity  compatible  with 
a  comprehension  of  it,  and  shall  refer  as  concisely  as  I  can  to 
a  few  of  the  largest  derivative  titles  from  the  Holland  Com- 
pany, leaving  the  smaller  ramifications  to  be  pointed  out  in  a 
supplement  to  this  history,  which,  if  able  to  accomplish  it,  I 
may  add  for  the  benefit  of  lawyers  or  those  who  have  occasion 
to  trace  the  chain  of  title  from  the  Holland  Company  down  to 
the  proprietors  of  the  land  at  the  present  tune. 

I  confine  myself  in  writing  to  the  four  counties  of  Erie, 
Crawford,  Warren,  and  Venango.  And,  as  some  of  the  same 


APPENDIX  353 

Dutch  capitalists  were  interested  in  the  Pennsylvania  Popula- 
tion Company  as  well  as  in  the  Holland  Land  Company,  I 
shall  place  on  file  with  the  Crawford  County  Historical  Society 
an  abstract  of  the  former  company,  to  show  when  it  was  dis- 
solved and  its  affairs  were  wound  up. 

The  Pennsylvania  Population  Company  lands,  so  far  as  I 
shall  refer  to  them,  were  situate  in  Erie  and  Crawford  coun- 
ties. They  are  easily  recognized  by  the  numbers  of  the  tracts. 
South  of  the  triangle  in  Erie  County,  the  population  numbers 
run  from  391  to  621,  and  in  Crawford  County  from  632  to 
843,  while  the  Holland  Company  numbers  in  Erie  County  (in 
District  No.  1)  run  from  No.  1  to  159,  and  in  Crawford  County 
from  No.  1  to  236  (being  District  No.  2). 

In  the  year  1810  Judge  William  Griffith  of  New  Jersey 
and  John  B.  Wallace,  Esq.,  of  Philadelphia  made  a  contract 
with  the  Holland  Company  to  purchase  its  entire  body  of 
lands  west  of  the  Allegheny  River  for  the  sum  of  $180,000, 
the  title  to  remain  in  the  Company  until  paid  for,  and  the 
parties  to  have  a  common  agent  to  attend  to  sales.  The  fol- 
lowing year  (1811)  Messrs.  Griffith  and  Wallace  made  a  con- 
tract to  buy  out  the  interest  of  the  Dutch  gentlemen  interested 
in  the  Population  Company  for  $60,000.  The  title  to  an  un- 
divided moiety  of  this  purchase  was  vested  in  William  Grif- 
fith, in  trust  for  the  use  and  benefit  of  Mr.  Wallace. 

In  1816  Mr.  Griffith  sold  out  his  entire  interest  in  the  con- 
cern to  Maurice  Wurts  of  New  Jersey  and  William  Wurts  of 
Philadelphia,  and  in  the  year  1818  Mr.  Wallace  and  the 
Messrs.  Wurts  made  partition  of  the  lands  and  contracts,  and 
arrangement  was  made  with  the  Holland  Company  by  which 
the  Messrs.  Wurts  got  deeds  and  held  title  to  their  lands  in 
severalty.  The  Messrs.  Wurts  paid  off  some  creditors  in  lands, 
and  in  this  way  a  large  block  was  transferred  to  John  Day  of 
New  York  and  William  Meredith  of  Philadelphia,  in  trust  for 
some  parties  in  England.  It  is  through  this  channel  that  we 
find  the  name  of  Messrs.  Day  and  Meredith  and  Messrs.  Price 
and  Ferguson  on  our  record. 


364  APPENDIX 

Mr.  Wallace  retained  his  interest  for  some  years,  when, 
finding  himself  unable  to  discharge  the  purchase  money  re- 
maining due,  the  lands  lapsed  and  fell  back  to  the  Company, 
which  still  held  the  legal  title  to  them  in  its  hands. 

About  the  year  1821  Mr.  Wallace,  having  some  other  in- 
terests in  Crawford  County,  moved  out  with  his  family  from 
Philadelphia  and  resided  for  some  fourteen  years  (1835)  in 
Meadville.  While  here  he  was  elected  to  the  Legislature,  and 
was  very  influential  in  getting  laws  passed  and  appropriations 
made  for  the  making  of  the  canal  through  the  western  part  of 
the  county,  a  measure  which  was  then  considered  a  cardinal 
point  in  its  future  prosperity. 

LAND   OFFICES 

The  Holland  Company  kept  the  office  of  its  general  agency 
at  Philadelphia.  Of  its  first  general  agent,  Mr.  Theophilus 
Cazenove,  who  acted  for  it  from  its  organization  until  his  re- 
turn to  Europe  in  A.  D.  1799,  very  little  is  known.  He  was 
succeeded  by  Mr.  Paul  Busti,  a  native  of  Milan  in  Italy,  who 
made  a  very  satisfactory  agent  for  a  quarter  of  a  century, 
down  to  the  tune  of  his  death,  on  the  23d  of  July,  1824.  Both 
of  these  gentlemen  have  been  complimented  by  having  towns 
named  after  them  in  New  York. 

The  father  of  the  writer  of  these  notes  was  bookkeeper  in 
Mr.  Busti's  office,  and  an  inmate  of  his  family  for  several 
years  before  coming  to  Meadville,  and  often  expressed  his  ap- 
preciation of  the  hospitality  there  received.  Mr.  Busti  had  no 
children,  and  was  succeeded  by  John  Jacob  Vanderkemp, 
Esq.,  who  was  a  native  of  Leyden  in  the  kingdom  of  the 
Netherlands,  and  who  was  at  that  time  bookkeeper  in  his 
office.  Mr.  Vanderkemp  retained  the  situation  until  the  affairs 
of  the  Company  were  finally  wound  up.  To  this  general  office 
financial  reports  were  made  annually  from  local  offices  at  Buf- 
falo and  Batavia  in  New  York,  and  Meadville,  Pennsylvania, 
with  such  practical  suggestions  as  experience  might  dictate. 
In  this  section  residents  at  different  points,  such  as  Linesville 


APPENDIX  356 

in  Crawford  County,  Pleasantville  in  Venango  County,  Co- 
lumbus and  Sugargrove  in  Warren  County,  and  Union  Mills 
in  Erie  County,  were  employed  to  show  lands  to  emigrants, 
receiving  a  commission  therefor  whenever  a  sale  was  effected. 

Soon  after  the  war  of  1812,  a  Mr.  Augustus  Sacket  was 
employed  by  Messrs.  Griffith  and  Wallace  to  stimulate  emi- 
gration from  the  East,  and  he  effected  some  exchanges  of 
Western  lands  for  lands  in  Berkshire,  Mass.,  and  in  Con- 
necticut, an  operation  which  proved  in  the  end  more  trouble- 
some than  profitable.  He  also  induced  some  Eastern  men  to 
purchase  a  quantity  of  land  on  credit,  with  a  view  of  reselling 
it.  It  was  in  this  way  that  in  1817  Captain  Gad  Peck  settled 
at  Centerville,  and  Jared  Shattuck,  Esq.,  at  Meadville,  a  long 
list  of  lands  taxed  to  them  jointly  being  found  on  reference  to 
the  county  treasurer's  books  at  that  time.  Though  they  suc- 
ceeded in  making  many  sales,  the  enterprise  on  the  whole  was 
not  successful,  and  a  portion  of  the  lands  thus  contracted  for 
reverted  to  the  Company. 

The  agents  of  the  Company  at  Meadville  were  Samuel  B. 
Foster  and  Alexander  W.  Foster,  jointly,  for  the  years  1796, 
1797,  1798,  and  part  of  1799 ;  Major  Roger  Alden  for  the 
years  1799  to  1804,  and  H.  J.  Huidekoper  from  the  first  of 
January,  1805,  to  the  closing  up  of  the  Company's  concerns  by 
the  sale  in  1836. 

It  is  difficult  to  realize  now,  amid  general  wealth  and  de- 
velopment, the  poverty  of  the  rural  districts  in  the  first  quar- 
ter of  this  century.  Many  persons  are  still  living  who  can 
recollect  when  a  large  portion  of  the  people  of  Meadville  used 
a  decoction  of  roasted  rye  as  a  substitute  for  coffee  on  their 
tables.  From  1820  to  1834  the  wages  of  a  hired  man  were 
about  nine  dollars  a  month.  In  1831  oak  wood  could  be 
bought  for  sixty-two  and  one-half  cents  a  cord,  and  hickory 
wood  for  eighty-seven  and  one-half  cents,  delivered.  The  facili- 
ties for  transportation  were  very  limited,  and  in  1824  whiskey, 
the  most  convenient  commodity  for  exporting,  was  only  worth 
twenty-five  cents  a  gallon.  Exchange  was  not  to  be  had  at 


356  APPENDIX 

home,  and  bank  bills  in  circulation  showed  various  grades  of 
depreciation. 

With  regard  to  assessment  of  taxes,  the  experience  of  the 
Holland  Company  was  one  common  to  all  such  organizations. 
To  place  the  burthens  of  society  on  one's  immediate  neighbors 
is  not  a  gracious  thing  for  an  assessor  to  do.  To  put  them 
on  a  non-resident  land-owner  would  draw  out  little  protest 
from  any  quarter  save  from  the  subject  of  the  imposition.  It 
was  a  possible  thing  at  times  to  find  upon  the  duplicate  of  the 
collector  a  farm  with  a  good  improvement  upon  it,  estimated 
at  no  higher  value  than  a  tract  of  untouched  woodland  by  its 
side.  The  large  taxpayer  found  some  offset  to  this  in  what 
may  be  called  financiering.  Money  was  scarce,  and  a  large 
part  of  the  common  currency  consisted  in  orders  of  the  Com- 
missioners on  the  county  treasurer.  These  the  merchants 
took  at  a  discount,  and  were  glad  to  realize  for  them  in  cash 
what  they  had  allowed  for  them  in  goods.  So  they  sold  them 
to  those  who  could  use  them  at  face  value  in  the  payment  of 
taxes. 

In  "  Western  Annals,"  page  725,  several  companies,  includ- 
ing the  one  I  am  writing  about,  are  described  as  being  organ- 
ized to  speculate  in  lands  in  western  Pennsylvania.  That 
word  "  speculate  "  has  a  good  and  a  bad  signification.  All 
hope  of  a  future  reward  for  present  action  is  in  some  sense 
speculative.  The  merchant  speculates  in  a  good  sense  when  he 
hopes  to  make  a  living  profit  by  purchasing  goods  to  be  re- 
tailed over  his  counter.  The  operator  in  Wall  Street  who  ex- 
cites and  depresses  stocks  alternately,  to  prey  on  the  misfor- 
tunes of  others,  is  speculative  in  a  bad  sense.  I  have  never 
found  anything  in  the  management  of  those  who  composed 
the  Holland  Land  Company  which  would  induce  me  to  char- 
acterize them  as  speculators  in  an  opprobrious  sense. 

We  have  seen  that  in  the  first  stages  of  its  existence  it  ad- 
vanced large  sums  for  traveling  expenses  and  for  provisions 
and  agricultural  implements  for  the  accommodation  of  pur- 
chasers, and  that  it  gave  a  gratuity  of  one  hundred  acres  of 


APPENDIX  357 

land  to  whoever  would  make  a  legal  settlement  on  one  of  its 
tracts. 

Though  it  dropped  the  gratuity  after  1805,  its  contracts 
always  required  a  house  to  be  built  within  a  twelvemonth  and 
eight  or  ten  acres  of  land  to  be  cleared  within  two  years  from 
date,  which  requirements  helped  in  the  development  of  the 
country. 

It  gave  long  credit,  generally  eight  years,  for  the  payment 
of  the  purchase  money,  and  where  an  honest  effort  to  pay  was 
indicated,  this  time  was  often  doubled  and  sometimes  trebled 
by  indulgence.  When  money  was  scarce  it  facilitated  pay- 
ment by  taking  cattle  which  had  to  be  driven  over  the  moun- 
tains to  Philadelphia  to  find  a  market.  It  bought  its  lands  at 
rates  open  to  all  and  sold  at  local  prevailing  prices.  It  never 
withheld  any  land  from  market  to  enhance  the  value  of  the 
residue,  with  some  few  exceptional  cases  based  on  the  quality 
of  the  land. 

The  applicant  was  free  to  select  on  the  hill  or  in  the  valley, 
to  take  farm  land  or  timber  land  at  his  option.  When  the 
vast  prairie  lands  of  the  West  were  thrown  upon  the  market 
by  the  government  at  almost  nominal  prices,  a  reduction  was 
made  in  prices  by  the  Company,  and  a  substantial  discount 
allowed  for  cash  hi  hand.  Under  this  system  the  western  part 
of  Erie  County  settled  up  very  rapidly  with  an  enterprising 
people  of  higher  ambition  than  those  who  led  the  van  in  fron- 
tier life,  and  this  section  of  country  secured  a  fair  share  of 
westward-bound  emigrants. 

In  this  accelerated  improvement  of  the  country  the  local 
agent  found  his  reward  for  a  long  period  of  anxiety  and  care. 
The  affairs  of  the  Company  required  visits  to  be  made  at  least 
quarterly  to  the  counties  of  Erie,  Warren,  and  Venango,  gen- 
erally on  the  weeks  when  court  would  be  in  session.  They  in- 
volved going  often  at  the  most  inclement  season  of  the  year, 
and  for  many  years  this  had  to  be  done  on  horseback,  papers 
and  clothing  having  to  be  carried  in  saddle-bags,  then  so  com- 
monly in  use.  The  journey  was  attended,  especially  through 


358  APPENDIX 

the  wilderness  to  Warren,  with  dangers  from  vindictiveness 
created  by  the  litigation  of  titles  I  have  referred  to,  and  from 
broken  bridges,  floods,  and,  in  winter,  snowdrifts  hiding  a 
road  full  of  roots,  and  mud  holes  of  which  it  is  difficult  to  give 
an  adequate  description.  The  whole  situation  required  nerve, 
great  powers  of  endurance,  a  subjection  of  self  to  a  strong 
sense  of  duty,  and  further,  in  business  transactions  a  well- 
balanced  judgment  to  regulate  sympathies  in  one  direction, 
with  proper  regard  to  proprietary  interests  in  another. 

This  exciting,  chaotic,  perilous  phase  of  life  found  its  oppo- 
site in  the  systematic  order  of  the  land  office,  where  a  neatly 
kept  journal  and  ledger  recorded  the  transactions  of  the  year, 
the  latter  balanced  to  a  cent  and  the  annual  results  reported 
to  the  general  office  in  Philadelphia. 

From  the  ledger  each  individual  account  was  posted  into  a 
land  book,  the  most  ponderous  book  probably  ever  in  the 
county,  being  two  feet  wide  and  six  inches  thick.  Every  page 
had  a  printed  caption  for  the  name  of  the  settler,  the  number 
of  the  tract,  and  the  district  where  located  ;  it  had  also  eighteen 
columns  of  vertical  rulings,  with  printed  headings  to  show  the 
page  of  original  entry  in  the  journal,  the  date  of  sale,  date  of 
payment,  acres  given  as  a  gratuity,  acres  sold  to  be  paid  for, 
acres  to  be  cleared,  time  allowed  for  clearing,  price  per  acre, 
amount  of  purchase  money,  rate  of  interest,  terms  of  pay- 
ment, amount  received  on  principal,  amount  on  interest, 
amount  remaining  due  on  principal,  also  on  interest,  quantity 
of  land  still  unsold  in  tract,  and  a  column  for  miscellaneous  re- 
marks. This  omnium-gatherum  book  represented  the  ne  plus 
ultra  of  itemized  accounts. 

But  it  is  nearly  half  a  century  since  the  Holland  Land 
Company  wound  up  its  affairs  in  this  region,  and  I  close  my 
narrative  with  some  comments  by  Mr.  O.  Turner,  the  historian 
of  the  Holland  purchase  in  the  State  of  New  York,  on  its 
aims  and  management,  with  whose  statements  I  entirely  con- 
cur from  long  personal  familiarity  with  the  subject  —  con- 
densing the  quotations  I  give.  Mr.  Turner  remarks  (page 


APPENDIX  369 

426)  of  all  that  (business)  men  leave  behind  them,  there  is 
nothing  that  affords  better  tests  of  their  characters  and  mo- 
tives than  their  private  correspondence.  It  is  here  that  in  all 
the  familiarity  and  confidence  of  private  friendship  a  neces- 
sary mutual  reliance  is  indulged  in.  Men  are  prone  to  throw 
off  all  disguise  and  disclose  the  real  motives  by  which  they 
are  governed.  Few  opportunities  could  be  as  ample  for  ap- 
plying this  test  as  those  the  author  has  enjoyed  connected 
with  the  entire  agencies  of  the  Holland  Company,  having  had 
free  access  to  the  great  mass  of  correspondence  between  its 
general  and  local  agents.  And  from  such  evidence  he  is  pre- 
pared to  say  few  enterprises  have  ever  been  conducted  on 
more  honorable  principles  than  was  that  which  embraced  the 
purchase,  sale,  and  settlement  of  the  Holland  purchase.  In 
all  the  instructions  of  the  general  to  the  local  agents,  the  in- 
terest of  the  settlers,  the  prosperity  of  the  country,  were  made 
secondary  in  but  a  slight  degree  to  their  securing  to  their 
principals  a  fair  and  reasonable  return  for  then*  investments. 
"  In  the  entire  history  of  settlement  and  improvement  in  our 
widely  extended  country,  large  tracts  of  the  wilderness  have 
nowhere  fallen  into  the  hands  of  individuals  —  become  sub- 
ject to  private  or  associate  cupidity — where  that  aggregate  re- 
sult has  been  more  favorable,  or  advantageous  to  the  settlers." 

To  which  I  may  add,  in  conclusion,  the  history  of  the  Com- 
pany is  but  a  repetition,  perhaps,  of  a  common  experience  in 
life.  It  was  encouraged  at  first  to  purchase  a  wilderness  and 
put  its  money  into  the  State  treasury.  This  was  an  acceptable 
thing  to  do.  When  it  sought  reimbursement  out  of  the  pro- 
perty so  acquired,  it  incurred  both  professional  and  popular  op- 
position, as  large  associations  are  apt  to  do.  Keeping  the  even 
tenor  of  its  way,  with  fairness  of  purpose  and  integrity  of 
action,  it  can  safely  intrust  its  record  to  the  hands  of  the 
historian. 

The  original  lands  purchased  from  the  State  of  Pennsyl- 
vania by  the  Holland  Land  Company  are  entered  in  its  books 
as  "  Lands  of  the  First  Purchase."  Those  acquired  from  the 


360  APPENDIX 

Pennsylvania  Population  Company  are  entered  as  "  Lands  of 
the  Second  Purchase." 

DISTRICTS 

These  were  designated  by  the  names  of  the  deputy  survey- 
ors who  made  respectively  the  surveys  in  them,  and  also  by 
numbers. 
District  No.  1,  called  "  Rees'  District,"  was  wholly  in  Erie 

County,  Pa. 

Holland  Land  Company,  Nos.  1  to  159. 
Population  Company,  Nos.  391  to  621. 
District  No.  2,  called  "Power's  District,"  wholly  in  Crawford 

County. 

Holland  Land  Company,  Nos.  1  to  236. 
Pennsylvania  Population  Company,  Nos.  632  to  843. 
District  No.  3,  called  "  Stokely's  District,"  was  eighteen  tracts 
in  Venango  County,  sold  to  Benjamin  B.  Cooper  of  New 
Jersey. 

District  No.  5,  east  of  the  Allegheny  River,  called  from  sur- 
veyor, "Wm.  P.  Brady's  District."     Of  this  174,000 
acres  sold  about  1813  to  the  Lancaster  Land  Company. 
District  No.  6,  called  "Nicholson's  District,"  was  part  in  Erie 

County,  chiefly  in  Warren  County,  Pa. 

District  No.  7,  called  "McDowell's  District,"  partly  in  Craw- 
ford, Warren,  and  Venango  counties. 

N.  B. — The  numbers  of  the  Holland  and  Population  com- 
panies must  not  be  confounded  with  those  of  Donation  dis- 
tricts in  some  of  the  counties. 


GENEALOGY   OF   HARM  JAN   II 


Harm  Jan  Huidekoper. 
Born  Hoogeveen, 
Drenthe,    Holland. 
April  3,  177li. 
Died  Meadville,  Pa., 
May  '22,  1854. 


Anne  Jans  Huidekoper. 
Born    Harlingen. 

Friesland,  1730. 
Died  Hoogeveen, 

Drenthe,  17W. 


Married  Vries,  April 
5,  1775. 


Married      Meadville, 
Pa.,  Sept.  1,  1800. 


Gesiena  Frederiea  Wol- 

thers. 
Born  \'ries,  Drenthe. 

Jan.  '.'!),  1741. 
Died  Hoogeveen,  May 

'_'4,  1813. 


Jan  Annes  Huidekoper. 

Born  Harlingeu, 
Fru'sland,  1681  or 
10!  18. 

Died  Berlikum,  Fries- 
land,  174U. 

Married  Harlingen. 
March  3,  1 725. 

Fokje  Pieters  Oldaans. 
(Oldaens  or  Oiulaan . ' 
Born 
Died  1770. 


Harm  Jan  Wolthers. 
Sch  u  1  1  er  of  Vries. 
March  21,   1722,  to 


Married  April  13,1738. 


Anna  Christina  Ketel. 


Anne  Jans  Hnidt 
of  Harlingen 
land. 


Hinke  Pieters  I): 


Pieter  Jans  Old 

(Oldaens  or  Oi 

B  orn     II  a  r  1  : 

Friesland,  1( 

Married  Nov. 2 

Rykje  Jacobs  Tji 


Lambert  Wolf  lit 
{Sch niter  of 
March   3,    U 
March  21, 
Born  Iti(i8. 
Died  Vries,  Di 
May31,173Ti 
(J8  years  old. 
Johanna  Aleida. 
Born  lliT.'l. 
Died  Sept.  13, 
Major    General 
Ketel. 


Rebecca  Colhoon. 

Born  Carlisle,  Pa., 

Oct.  15,  177<», 
Died  Meadville,  Pa., 

Oct.  22,  183!». 


Andrew  Colhoon. 

Died     Carlisle, 

May  8,  1794. 


Pa., 


Married  Carlisle,  Pa., 
Feb.  12,  1777. 


Esther  McDowell. 
Born  1752. 
Died     Carlisle, 
June  12,  17!>5. 


Pa., 


John  Colhoon. 

1  )ied  M  i  d  d  1  e  t  o  w  n , 
Cumberland  Co., 
Pa.,  Sept.,  1757. 

Rebecca 


Andrew  McDowell. 
Born  Ireland. 
Died  Cumberland  Co., 
Pa.,  1778. 


Sarah  Shanklin. 

of  Port   Lewis,  De- 
laware. 
Died  1788. 


IDEKOPER  AND  REBECCA  COLHOON 

Jan  Huidekoper. 


>er, 
ies- 


Pieter  Dreijn. 


(  Jan  Oldaans.    (Oldaens 
ns-  ]          or  Oudaan.) 
"»••>  (       Born  1630. 

.     ,    .  „,.  I    TSoaaa  TSoaaamo  Tj^SSC. 

197. 

na. 


Jacobus  Tjessema.          (  Johannes  Tjessema.  JB^il5^  '      Born  1530 

Rnrn  .Tan     Q    1«M  \          Bom  1591.  BOnl  15WJ' 


Born  Jan.  9,  1629. 

Died  1671.  Died  1636. 

Married  Dec.  15, 1655. 
Elizabeth    Paulus    Bo- {  Paulus  Bogaard. 


guard. 

es'         Born  Dec.  15,  1635. 
to         Died  Feb.  3,  1692. 


;he, 

rse, 


I. 

)ter 


n 

HUIDEKOPER * 

HARM  JAN  HUIDEKOPER,  founder  of  the  Huidekoper  family 
in  America,  eldest  son  of  Anne  Huidekoper  and  Gesiena  Fred- 
erica  Wolthers,  his  second  wife. 

Born   at   Hoogeveen,  Province    of    Drenthe,  Holland,  April  3, 
1776 ;    sailed  from  the  Helder,  Holland,  in  the  Brig   Pru- 
dence, Aug.  12,  1796 ;  arrived  at  New  York,  Oct.  14,  1796. 
Married,  Meadville,  Pennsylvania,  Sept.  1, 1806,  Rebecca  Colhoon, 
second  daughter  of  Andrew  Colhoon  and  Esther  McDowell, 
his  wife ;  (born,  Carlisle, Pa., Oct.  15,1779;  died,  at  "Pomona," 
Meadville,  Pa.,  Oct.  22, 1839). 
Died  at  "  Pomona,"  Meadville,  Pa.,  May  22,  1854. 
Issue : 

ANNA  APPOLINA, 

b.  "Pomona,"  Meadville,  Pa.,  Aug.  14,  1807;  d.  "Po- 
mona," Meadville,  Pa.,  July  30,  1808. 
FREDERIC  WOLTHEBS, 

b.  "Pomona,"  Meadville,  Pa.,  Oct.    2,   1808;   d.  "Po- 
mona," Meadville,  Pa.,  Sept.  12,  1816. 
ALFRED,  1810-1892.  (Vide  infra,  p.  2) 

EDGAR,  1812-1862.  (Vide  infra,  p.  4) 

ANNA,  1814-1897.  (Vide  infra,  p.  7) 

FREDERIC,        1817-1892.  (Vide  infra,  p.  8) 

ELIZABETH  GERTRUDE, 

b.  "  Pomona,"  Meadville,  Pa.,  Jan.  8,  1819. 


1  Compiled  by 

FREDERIC  WOLTERS  HUIDEKOFER  and 
FREDERIC  Louis  HUIDEKOPEB. 


362  APPENDIX 

ALFRED,   second   son   of   Harm  Jan   Huidekoper   and  Rebecca 
Colhoon,  his  wife ;  b.  "  Pomona,"  Meadville,  Pa.,  March  21, 
1810 ;  m.  Meadville,  Dec.  4,  1834,  Catherine,  third  daughter 
of  Arthur  Cullum  and  Harriet  Sturges,  his  wife  (b.  Meadville, 
Pa.,  Sept.  17,  1812;  d.  Meadville,  April  22,  1888)  ;  d.  Mead- 
ville, Jan.  13,  1892. 
Issue : 
REBECCA  COLHOON, 

b.  Meadville,  Pa,,  Oct.  2, 1835 ;  m.  Meadville,  Pa.,  Aug. 
22, 1859,  George  Bond,  eldest  son  of  George  William 
Bond  and  Sophia  Augusta  May,  his  wife  (b.  Boston, 
Mass.,   Aug.  12,  1834) ;    d.  Jamaica  Plain  (Boston), 
Mass.,  Dec.  23,  1880. 
Issue    (surname  BOND)  : 
Alfred  Huidekoper, 

b.  Roxbury  (Boston),  Mass.,  July  8,  1860  ;  m.  New 
York,  Jan.  25,  1896,  Louise  van  Beuren,  second 
daughter  of  John  William  Davis  and  Mary  Louise 
van  Beuren,  his  wife  (b.  New  York,  Feb.  15, 
1865). 

Issue     (surname  BOND)  : 
Mary  Louise, 

b.  Morristown,  N.  J.,  Aug.  26,  1897. 
George  Gorham, 

b.  Jamaica  Plain  (Boston),  Mass.,  Aug.  1,  1862  ;  d. 

New  York,  Dec.  11, 1887. 
Rose  May  Cracroft, 

b.  Jamaica  Plain  (Boston),  Mass.,  May  8, 1868 ;  m. 
Roxbury,  Mass.,  April  3,  1893,  William  Jones 
liomaine,  only  son  of  Samuel  Brower  Romaine  and 
Clara  Robins  Jones,  his  wife  (b.  New  York,  Feb. 
15,  1865). 

Issue     (surname  ROMAINE)  : 
Lawrence  Bond, 

b.  Morristown,  N.  J.,  Oct.  13,  1900. 
Mabel  Huidekoper, 

b.  Germantown  (Phila.),  Pa.,  Jan.  4,  1875;  m. 
Morristown,  N.  J.,  June  7,  1900,  Charles  Noyes 


APPENDIX  363 

Lov eland,   second   son  of   George  Iioveland   and 
Julia  Lord  Noyes,  his  wife  (b.  Wilkesbarre,  Pa., 
Nov.  26,  1872). 
Issue   (surname  LOVELAND)  : 
Rose  Cracroft, 

b.  Wilkesbarre,  Pa.,  July  28, 1903. 
EMMA  CULLUM, 

b.    Meadville,  Pa.,  Jan.  31,  1842;  m.  Meadvffle,  Pa., 

Sept.  17, 1866,  Oreste  Antonio  Nicolo  Cortazzo. 
Issue    (surname  COBTAZZO)  : 

Katerina  Frederica  Alexandra  Senee, 

b.  Paris,  France,  May  1,  1868. 
ABTHUB  CLABKE, 

b.  Meadville,   Pa.,  June  15,  1845 ;   m.  Meadville,  Pa., 
Sept.  21,  1869,  Frances  Louise,  eldest  daughter    of 
William  Reynolds  and  Julia  Eliza  Thorp,  his  wife  (b. 
Meadville,  Pa.,  Nov.  2,  1846). 
Issue : 

ALBKBT  REYNOLDS, 

b.  Meadville,  Pa.,  Jan.  18,  1871. 
EABLE  COLHOON, 

b.  Meadville,  Pa.,  Jan.  31,  1872. 
EDITH  ELLICOTT, 

b.  Meadville,   Pa.,   April  28,   1880;   d.  Meadville, 

Pa.,  Feb.  20,  1887. 
ANNETTE  VAN  EEGHEN, 

b.  Meadville,  Pa.,  July  3,  1852 ;  d.  Meadville,  Pa.,  July 
16,  1886. 


304  APPENDIX 

EDGAR,  third  son  of  Harm  Jan  Huidekoper  and  Rebecca  Colhoon, 
his  wife,  b.  "  Pomona,"  Meadville,  Pa.,  May  30,  1812  ;  m. 
Meadville,  Pa.,  June  28,  1838,  Frances,  eldest  daughter  of 
Judge  Henry  Shlppen  and  Elizabeth  Wallis  Evans,  his  wife  (b. 
Lancaster,  Pa.,  March  23,  1818 ;  d.  "  Hill  Home,"  Meadville, 
Pa.,  May  29,  1897) ;  d.  "  Hill  Home,"  Meadville,  Pa.,  Sept. 
9,  1862. 
Issue : 

HENRY  SHIPPEN, 

b.  "Pomona,"  Meadville,  Pa.,  July  17,  1839;  m.  Ger- 
mantown  (Phila.),  Pa.,  Oct.  26,  1864,  Emma  Gertrude, 
eldest  daughter  of  Thomas  Wallis  Evans  and  Annie  De 
Costa  Yard,  his  wife  (b.  Germantown,  Pa.,  Sept.  18, 
1840). 
Issue : 

GERTRUDE, 

b.  Germantown    (Phila.),    Pa.,   Oct.   12,    1865 ;  m. 
Philadelphia,  Pa.,  April  17,  1890,  Edmund  Mun- 
roe-Smith,  second  son  of  Horatio  Southgate  Smith 
and  Susan  Dwight  Munroe,  his  wife  (b.  Brooklyn, 
N.  Y.,  Dec.  8, 1854). 
Issue    (surname  MUNROE-SMITH)  : 
Gertrude, 

b.  Easthampton,  Long  Island,  N.  Y.,  June  6, 

1891. 
THOMAS  WALLIS, 

b.  Germantown  (Phila.),  Pa.,  Feb.  2,  1870. 
FREDERIC  WOLTERS, 

b.  "  Pomona,"  Meadville,  Pa.,  Sept.  12, 1840  ;  m.  Mead- 
ville, Pa.,  Jan.  22,  1867,  Anna  Virginia,  only  daughter 
of  Fitz-James  Christie  and  Elizabeth  Anna  Johns,  his 
wife  (b.  Erie,  Pa.,  Dec.  23,  1843). 
Issue  : 
GRACIE, 

b.  New  York,  July  5, 1872;  d.  New  York,  July  6, 1872. 
FREDERIC  Louis, 

b.  Meadville,  Pa.,  March  8,  1874. 
REGINALD  SHIPPEN, 

b.  Meadville,  Pa.,  May  24,  1876. 


APPENDIX  365 

HERMAN  JOHN, 

b.  "Pomona,"   Meadville,   Pa.,   Nov.   28,   1843;   d.  St. 

Paul,  Minnesota,  Oct.  21,  1868. 
EDGAR, 

b.  "  Pomona,"  Meadville,  Pa.,  March  10,  1845. 
GERTRUDE, 

b.  "Pomona,"  Meadville,  Pa.,  Aug.  2,  1846;  m.  Paris, 
France,  Aug.  17,  1870,  Frank   Wells,  second  son  of 
Charles  Bartlett  Wells  and  Maria  Louisa  Binney,  his 
wife  (b.  Boston,  Mass.,  Oct.  11,  1842). 
Issue    (surname  WELLS)  : 
George  Doane, 

b.  Cleveland,  Ohio,  June  27,  1872. 
Edgar  ttiidekoper, 

b.  Cleveland,  Ohio,  June  27,  1875. 
Elizabeth  Huidekoper, 

b.  Boston,  Mass.,  June  4,  1878. 
Robert, 

b.   Boston,   Mass.,   Nov.   30,   1880 ;    d.    Longwood 

(Boston),  Mass.,  March  2,  1883. 
ELIZABETH, 

b.  "Hill  Home,"  Meadville,  Pa.,  July  17,  1851;  m. 
"  Hill  Home,"  Meadville,  Pa.,  June  21,  1883,  Henry 
Purkitt  Kidder,  son  of  Thomas  Kidder  and  Clarissa 
Purkitt,  his  wife  (b.  Boston,  Mass.,  Jan.  18,  1823 ;  d. 
New  York,  Jan.  28,  1886). 
RUSH  RHEES  SHIPPEN, 

b.  "  Hill  Home,"  Meadville,  Pa.,  May  3, 1854 ;  m.  Media 
(Delaware  Co.),  Pa.,  March  15,  187T,  Anne  Preston, 
eldest  daughter  of  Joseph  Roberts  Morris  and  Arabella 
Ashmead  Darlington,  his  wife  (b.  Media,  Pa.,  May  18, 
1855)  ;  d.  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  Dec.  17,  1901. 
FRANK  COLHOON, 

b.  "  Hill  Home,"  Meadville,  Pa.,  Aug.  22, 1857  ;  m.  Wor- 
cester, Mass.,  June  13,  1882,  Caroline  Cutler,  eldest 
daughter  of  Calvin  Foster  and  Anna  Louisa  Gage,  his 
wife  (b.  Gorham,  Maine,  Sept.  1,  1859)  ;  d.  Providence, 
R.  I.,  July  26,  1890. 


366  APPENDIX 

Issue : 
HERMAN  JOHN, 

b.  Paris,  France,  July  20,  1883:  d.  Boston,  Mass., 

March  15, 1893. 
ROSALIND, 

b.  Worcester,  Mass.,  May  29,  1885. 
PRESCOTT  FOSTER, 

b.  New  York,  Jan.  31,  1887. 


APPENDIX  367 

ANNA,  second  daughter  of  Harm  Jan  Huidekoper  and  Rebecca 
Colhoon,  his  wife,   b.    "Pomona,"     Meadville,   Pa.,  Nov.  5, 
1814;  m.  "Pomona,"  Meadville,  Pa.,  Aug.  15,  1839,  Rev. 
James  Freeman  Clarke,  second  son  of  Samuel  Clarke  and 
Rebecca  Parker  Hull,  his  wife  (b.  Hanover,  N.  H.,  April  4, 
1810  ;  d.  Jamaica  Plain  (Boston),  Mass.,  June  8,  1888)  ;  d. 
Jamaica  Plain  (Boston),  Mass.,  April  2,  1897. 
Issue    (surname  CLARKE)  : 
Herman  Huidekoper, 

b.  Meadville,  Pa.,  Oct.  15,  1840 ;  d.  Boston,  Mass.,  Feb. 

15,  1849. 
Lilian  Freeman, 

b.  Boston,  Mass.,  June  4,  1842. 
Eliot  Channing, 

b.  Boston,  Mass.,  May  6,  1845 ;  m.  Boston,  Mass.,  April 
4,  1878,  Alice  de  Vermandois,  daughter  of  William 
Sohier  and  Susan  Cabot  Lowell,  his  wife  (b.  Boston, 
Mass.,  March  17,  1850 ;  d.  Boston,  Mass.,  Nov.  16, 
1901). 

Issue    (surname  CLABKE)  : 
Susan  Lowell, 

b.  Boston,  Mass.,  Feb.  14,  1879. 
James  Freeman, 

b.  Boston,  Mass.,  March  1,  1881 ;  d.  Boston,  Mass., 

March  18,  1884. 
Anna  Huidekoper, 

b.  Boston,  Mass.,  July  7, 1883. 
Elizabeth  Lowell, 

b.  Boston,  Mass.,  May  3,  1887. 
Jame»  Freeman, 

b.  Boston,  Mass.,  May  14,  1889. 
Cora  Huidekoper, 

b.  Meadville,  Pa.,  Feb.  9,  1851. 


368  APPENDIX 

FREDERIC,  fourth  son  of  Harm  Jan  Huidekoper  and  Rebecca 
Colhoon,  his   wife,    b.  "  Pomona,"  Meadville,   Pa.,   April   7, 
1817  ;  m.  New   York,  Nov.  10,  1853,  Harriet  Nancy,  fifth 
daughter  of  Henry  Sturges  Thorp  and  Julia  Ann  Parker,  his 
wife  (b.  New  York,  Sept  13, 1830)  ;  d.  "  Pomona,"  Meadville, 
Pa.,  May  16,  1892. 
Issue  : 
LOUISA, 

b.  "  Pomona,"  Meadville,  Pa.,  Aug.  30,  1855  ;  m.  "  Po- 
mona," Meadville,  Pa.,  May  5,  1880,   Winthrop  Hoyt 
Perry,  third  son  of  Oliver  Henry  Perry  and  Harriet 
Hoyt,  his  wife  (b.  Southport,  Conn.,  Sept.  20,  1854). 
ELLEN  ELIZABETH, 

b.  "Pomona,"  Meadville,  Pa.,  Nov.  14,  1856;  d.  "Po- 
mona," Meadville,  Pa.,  July  30,  1861. 
ANNA  JULIA, 

b.  "Pomona,"  MeadvUle,  Pa.,  July  30,  1858;  d.   "  Po- 
mona," Meadville,  Pa.,  Sept.  4,  1893. 
WILLIAM  FREDERIC, 

b.  "  Pomona,"  Meadville,  Pa.,  Aug.  27,  1862 ;  d.  "  Po. 
mona,"  Meadville,  Pa.,  Aug.  17,  1883. 


INDEX 


INDEX 


NOTE  :    H.  J.  H.  stands  for  Harm  Jan  Huidekoper. 


ACCUMULATION  OF  WEALTH,  arti- 
cle by  H.  J.  H.  on,  193, 194;  277. 

Adams,  John,  39,  41;  negotiates 
Dutch  loan,  97. 

Addison,  Judge,  plot  to  murder, 
105. 

Agnew,  Daniel,  Chief  Justice  of 
Penn.,  his  "  History,"  etc., 
quoted,  104,  105,  106. 

Albany,  Dutch  the  common  lan- 
guage of,  among  old  people  and 
negroes,  30;  visited  by  H.  J.  H., 
44;  in  1802,  the  best  built  and 
busiest  city  in  the  interior  of  the 
U.  S.,  76;  land  in  neighborhood 
of,  very  poor,  77. 

Alcott,  Bronson,  H.  J.  H.'s  esti- 
mate of,  280. 

Alden,  Major  Roger,  agent  of  Hol- 
land Land  Co.  at  Meadyille,  57; 
first  came  to  Meadville  in  1795, 
82;  associated  with  David  Mead 
in  public  works,  83;  his  duel,  83, 
83  n;  resigns  his  agency,  88,  90; 
comments  on,  125. 

Alden,  Rev.  Timothy,  President  of 
Allegheny  College,  209  n;  sup- 
plies Presbyterian  pulpit  at 
Meadville,  210;  attacks  Unita- 
rian doctrines  and  Unitarians, 
210;  answered  by  H.  J.  H.,  210. 

Alien  act,  100. 

Aliens  could  not  hold  land  in  N.  Y. 
at  time  of  Holland  Land  Co.'s 
first  purchases,  100. 

Allegheny  College  (Meadville), 
founded  by  Rev.  Timothy  Alden 
in  1815,  209  n;  subscribers  to, 
included  many  Unitarians,  209  n. 

Allegheny  Mountain,  64. 

Allegheny  River,  65,  66. 

Amsterdam,  embargo  at,  91. 

Anti-slavery,  292;  New  England 
Convention,  292. 

Atkinson,  Thomas,  editor  of  "  Craw- 
ford Messenger,"  90. 


Atonement,  the,  H.  J.  H.'s  essays 

on,  233. 
Attorney-General  v.  Grantees  under 

Act  of  1792,  decision  of,  109. 
Auxiliary    Internal    Improvement 

Society  of  Crawford  Co.,  191. 

Bagley,  E.  H.,  clerk  to  H.  J.  H.,  266. 

Bakewell,  Benjamin,  a  stanch  Uni- 
tarian, 202,  205. 

Barneveld.   See  Oldenbarneveld. 

Batavia,  N.  Y.,  72,  73;  agency  of 
Holland  Land  Co.  at,  73. 

Bayard,  William,  35,  36;  agent  of 
purchasers  of  lands  in  Penn., 
101. 

Bears  in  vicinity  of  Meadville, 
249. 

Beatty,  Robert,  agent  of  Holland 
Land  Co.,  88,  89  n. 

Beaver  and  Erie  Canal,  190,  191. 

Bedford,  Penn.,  64. 

"  Being  and  Immortality,"  H.  J. 
H.'s  essay  on,  239  n. 

Bemus's  Mills,  191. 

Benedict,  Miss,  156. 

Berlikum,  village  of,  6,  6  n. 

Bernadotte,  Marshal,  King  of  Swe- 
den, 25. 

Bible,  the,  truth  as  taught  in,  the 
object  of  H.  J.  H.'s  quest,  202; 
his  diligent  study  of,  202;  H.  J. 
H.'s  reliance  on,  in  doctrinal  mat- 
ters, 228. 

Big  Sun,  friendly  Indian,  81. 

Blossom,  Colonel,  clerk  to  H.  J.  H., 
166. 

Bonaparte.   See  Napoleon. 

"  Bontreeder,"  Jan  Annes  Huide- 
koper a,  5. 

Books,  scarcity  of  in  United  Pro- 
vinces in  H.  J.  H.'s  boyhood,  15. 

Boon,  Gen-it,  36,  38;  founder  of 
Oldenbarneveld,  43;  his  views 
on  maple  sugar,  43,  45;  acting 
for  Holland  Land  Co.,  43,  45; 


372 


INDEX 


H.  J.  H.'s  estimate  of,  46;  returns 
to  Europe,  50;  100  n. 

Brady,  William  P.,  agent  of  Hol- 
land Land  Co.,  88,  89  n. 

Brandywine  Creek,  61. 

Brendel,  W.,  editor  of  "Crawford 
Messenger,"  90. 

Brigham,  Rev.  Alanson,  tutor  and 
minister  at  Meadville,  246;  his 
illness  and  death,  256. 

Brook  Farm,  H.  J.  H.  on,  288. 

"  Brook  Farm,"  by  Lindsay  Swift, 
quoted,  281  n,  287  n,  302  n. 

Brownson,  Orestes  A.,  H.  J.  H.  not 
in  accord  with,  280  ;  his  articles 
in  the  "Quarterly  Review"  an- 
swered by  H.  J.  H.  in  the  "  West- 
ern Messenger,"  282,  283. 

Bryson,  Lydia  (Colhoon),  sister  of 
Mrs.  Huidekoper,  134;  in  H.  J. 
H.'s  family  at  Pomona,  149,  150. 

Buffalo,  in  1802,  contained  a  dozen 
and  a  half  log  cabins,  58,  59;  site 
of,  owned  by  Holland  Land  Co., 
70;  its  promise  of  future  impor- 
tance, 70,  86. 

Bushnell,  Rev.  Mr.,  Presbyterian 
minister  at  Meadville,  210;  his 
attack  upon  Unitarians  and  Uni- 
versalists,  210. 

Busti,  Elizabeth  (May),  wife  of 
Paul  Busti,  56,  56  n,  59. 

Busti,  Paul,  general  agent  of  Hol- 
land Land  Co.  until  1835,  56, 
56  n;  succeeded  by  H.  J.  H.,  57; 
his  kindness  to  H.  J.  H.,  59,  88, 
89 n;  his  memorial  to  the  N.  Y. 
Legislature,  quoted,  95,  96, 99  n  ; 
advises  granting  special  terms  to 
intruders,  120. 

Campbell,    Rev.    John,    organizes 

Unitarian   church   in    Pittsburg, 

200;    effect  of  sermon  preached 

by,  upon  H.  J.  H.,  202. 
Canada,  projected  invasion  of,  179, 

ISO. 
Canandaigua,    end    of    the    Great 

Western  Turnpike  of  N.  Y.,  73. 
Canaserago,  Indian  village  of,  46. 
Capellen,  J.  D.  van  der,  40. 
Carlisle,  Penn.,  63. 
Cattaraugus  Creek,  70. 
"Causeways"    (corduroy   bridges), 

described,  49. 
Cazenovn,  Theophilus,  general  agent 

of  Holland  Land  Co.,  26,  44. 


Cazenovia,  30,  38,  44;  in  1802,  75, 
101. 

Channing,  William  Ellery,  sermon 
in  Baltimore  at  installation  of 
Jared  Sparks,  200;  278,  285. 

Channing,  William  Henry,  246;  his 
influence  at  Pomona,  257,  261, 
268;  and  the  "Western  Messen- 
ger," 281 ;  eloquence  of,  283,  284; 
and  "The  Present,"  284;  H.  J. 
H.'s  criticism  of,  284-286. 

Chauncey,  Commodore,  186,  187, 
188. 

Chippewa,  Fort,  71. 

"  Christian  World,"  the,  293,  295. 

Clarke,  Herman,  302, 306;  death  of, 
302. 

Clarke,  James  Freeman,  178,  246; 
a  sharer  in  the  "  enthusiastic 
expectation  of  the  time,"  262;  in- 
terested in  "  Western  Messenger," 
262;  succeeds  to  editorship  of 
W.  M.,  262,  264;  literary  tone  of 
W.  M.  due  to,  264;  meets  Mrs. 
H.,  Anna,  and  Edgar  on  their 
southern  trip,  265,  267;  marries 
Anna  Huidekoper,  270-272; 
classed  with  transcendentalists, 
287;  idolized  by  his  parishioners 
of  the  Church  of  the  Disciples  in 
Boston,  287;  exchanges  pulpits 
with  Parker  ("Black  Sunday"), 
289;  secession  of  parishioners  of , 
289;  at  Meadville  (1850-53),  305, 
306,  316;  preaches  ordination 
sermon  of  Frederic  Huidekoper, 
316. 

"Clarke,  James  Freeman,  Autobio- 
graphy, Diary,  and  Correspond- 
ence of,"  edited  by  E.  E.  Hale, 
cited,  262;  quoted,  264  n. 

Clarke,  Mrs.  James  Freeman,  set- 
tled in  Louisville,  272;  letters  of 
H.  J.  H.  to,  concerning  her  philan- 
thropic work,  etc.,  272-277.  See 
also  Huidekoper,  Anna. 

Clay,  Cassius  M.,  292. 

Clercq,  Henry  de,  38;  visited  by 
H.  J.  H.  at  Cazenovia,  47;  extract 
from  "Autobiography"  concern- 
ing, 47,  75. 

Coleman,  Rev.  Henry,  at  dedication 
of  Unitarian  church  at  Meadville, 
269,  270  n. 

Colhoon,  Andrew,  father  of  Mrs.  H., 
133;  his  marriage,  133;  and 
death,  133;  children  of,  134  n. 


INDEX 


373 


Colhoon,  Esther  (McDowell),  mo- 
ther of  Mrs.  H.,  133,  134. 

Colhoon,  John,  ancestor  of  Mrs.  H., 
133. 

Colhoon,  Dr.  John,  brother  of  Mrs. 
H.,  134. 

Colhoon,  Lydia.  See  Bryson,  Lydia 
(Colhoon). 

Colhoon,  Rebecca.  See  Huidekoper, 
Rebecca  (Colhoon). 

Colhoon,  Sarah,  sister  of  Mrs.  H., 
134;  her  death,  135. 

Colt,  Jabez,  57,  62,  69,  90. 

Commonwealth  v.  Coxe,  mandamus 
to  compel  issue  of  patents  to  Hol- 
land Land  Co.,  107,  108;  opinion 
of  Yeates,  J.  in,  112. 

Conneaut  Lake,  191. 

Conneaut  Outlet,  191. 

Corduroy  bridges.    See  Causeways. 

Corduroy  roads,  first  streets  in 
Meadville  were,  83. 

Cornplanter,  friendly  Indian,  81. 

Cottage  Farm,  nucleus  of  Pomona, 
purchased  by  H.  J.  H.,  139. 

Coxe,  Tench,  Secretary  of  Land 
Office  of  Perm.,  defendant  in 
suit  to  compel  issue  of  patents, 
108. 

"Crawford  Messenger,"  first  news- 
paper at  Meadville,  90 ;  first 
number  of,  90,  91 ;  age  of  news 
published  in,  90,  91;  politics  of, 
92;  advertisements  in,  and  other 
contents,  92,  93;  its  office  also  a 
book-shop,  93;  H.  J.  H.'s  adver- 
tisement of  agency  in,  93 ;  medium 
of  H.  J.  H.'s  replies  to  attacks  of 
Messrs.  Alden  and  Bushnell,  210, 
211;  discussion  in,  concerning 
transmission  of  mails  on  Sun- 
day, 214—216;  and  concerning 
revivals,  217-219. 

Crefeld,  Institute  at,  attended  by 
H.  J.  H.,  in  1793, 19;  general  con- 
ditions and  instruction  at,  19; 
details  of  life  at,  20-22;  breaking 
up  of,  25. 

Cullum,  Arthur,  convert  to  Unita- 
rianism,  206. 

Cullum,  Lieut.  Gep.  W.,  draws 
plans  for  Unitarian  church  at 
Meadville,  268. 

Cultivation,  state  of,  of  land  in 
Pennsylvania  and  New  York,  60- 
78,  passim. 

Cussewago.   See  Meadville. 


Dame  School,  H.  J.  H.  attends,  14. 

Day,  Rev.  John  Quinby,  246,  268, 
268  n. 

Death,"  the  wages  of  sin,"  H.  J.  H.'s 
interpretation  of  the  phrase,  241. 

Defrance,  Mr.,  56. 

Dewey,  Miss  Jerusha,  opens  select 
school  at  Meadville,  224;  perse- 
cuted by  Rev.  Mr.  James,  224; 
defended  by  H.  J.  H.,  225,  226. 

Dick,  William,  builds  first  frame 
house  in  Meadville,  84,  85;  first 
court  held  in  his  house  (1800),  85. 

Divinity  Hall,  322. 

"  Donation  lands,"  74. 

Douglas,  Mr.,  school-teacher  at 
Meadville,  155. 

Douglass,  defendant  in  Huidekoper' s 
Lessee  v.  Douglass,  115,  116. 

Downingston,  Penn.,  60. 

Dreijn,  Hinke  Pieters.  See  Huide- 
koper, Hinke  Pieters. 

Drenthe,  province  of,  9;  intellec- 
tual darkness  of,  15;  little  inter- 
course between,  and  more  enlight- 
ened regions,  16;  intellectual  sit- 
uation of,  compared  with  that  of 
German  counties  of  Pennsylvania 
in  1840,  16. 

Duquesne  Fort,  remains  of,  66. 

Dutch  language,  similar  to  German, 
20;  Mennonite  services  at  Crefeld 
conducted  in,  23;  the  common 
language  of  most  old  people,  and 
of  negroes,  on  Long  Island,  at 
Albany,  etc.  (1796),  30. 

Dwight,  John  S.,  246;  Frederic  H.'s 
recollections  of,  257;  his  influ- 
ence at  Pomona,  257;  "  the  life  of 
the  Lyceum,"  258,  261 ;  at  Brook 
Farm,  288. 

Echten,  Baron  von,  founder  and 
Lord  of  the  Hoogeveen,  8. 

Education,  lack  of  among  the 
masses  in  the  United  Provinces, 
in  latter  years  of  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, 15. 

Eeghen,  Annette  van  (Huidekoper), 
niece  of  H.  J.  H.,  13. 

Eeghen,  Christian  van,  interested 
in  purchase  of  lands  in  Penn., 
101. 

Eeghen,  Miss  van,  wife  of  Pieter 
Huidekoper,  H.J.H.'s  nephew,  13. 

Eeghen,  Pieter  van,  marries  An- 
nette Huidekoper,  niece  of  H.  J. 


374 


INDEX 


H.,  13;  interested  in  purchase  of 
Morris  lands  in  N.  Y.,  100. 

Election,  doctrine  of,  H.  J.  H.'s  es- 
say on,  232. 

Eliot,  William  Greenleaf,  280,  317. 

Ellicott,  Miss,  visit  of,  to  Meadville, 
142. 

Ellicott,  Mr.,  agent  of  Holland 
Land  Co.  at  Batavia,  73. 

Elliott,  Captain  (War  of  1812),  185, 
186;  and  Perry,  dispute  between, 
188-190;  anecdote  of,  190  n. 

Emerson,  Ralph  Waldo,  certain 
poems  of,  first  published  in 
"Western  Messenger,"  264;  his 
"Good-bye,  Proud  World,"  264n; 
his  withdrawal  from  the  minis- 
try, 276;  H.  J.  H.  not  in  full  sym- 
pathy with,  280  ;  sanity  of, 
doubted  by  H.  J.  H.,  286;  letter 
of,  quoted,  264  n. 

Emmons,  Rev.  Mr.,  Unitarian  min- 
ister at  Meadville,  304,  304  n. 

Erie,  Lake,  70,  181,  183;  battle  of, 
188,  189. 

Erie  and  Waterford  Turnpike,  90. 

"  Essayist."  See  "  Unitarian  Essay- 
ist.^ 

Eternal  Punishment,  discussed  by 
H.  J.  H.,  235,  236. 

Extinction  of  the  wicked,  241. 

"  Fair  Columbian,"  the,  133. 

Fairchild,  Helen  Lincklaen,  editor 
of  F.  A.  van  der  Kemp's  "  Auto- 
biography," 39  n,  40;  and  of 
"Journals  of  John  Lincklaen," 
43  n. 

Fannetstown,  Penn.,  63. 

"  Fanny  Wrightism,"  284,  284  n. 

"  Feigned  Issue,"  raised  by  Penn. 
Act  of  1802,  108;  trial  of,  109. 

Finney,  Jenny,  first  school-teacher 
of  Meadville.  See  Mead,  Jenny 
(Finney). 

Fires,  forest,  effect  of,  66,  67,  72. 

Fishkill,  N.  Y.,  78. 

Flying  Cloud,  friendly  Indian,  80, 
81,  82  n. 

Forest  fires,  effect  of,  66,  67,  72. 

Forests,  in  Penn.,  63,  65. 

"Fox,"  H.  J.  H.'s  favorite  horse, 
169;  wounded,  169. 

Franklin,  Penn.,  67,  158. 

Franklin,  Fort  (formerly  Fort 
Machault),  79,  80,  81. 

Freeman,    James,    expelled    from 


Episcopal  denomination,  adopts 
name  of  Unitarian  and  establishes 
first  Unitarian  church  in  Amer- 
ica, 199. 

French  Creek,  67,  79;  named  by 
Washington,  80;  cargoes  of  lum- 
ber and  salt  on,  86;  representa- 
tives of  Holland  Land  Co.  acquire 
large  tract  of  land  on,  101. 

"  Friesch  Bont,"  5. 

Fugitive  Slave  Law,  H.  J.  H.'s  view 
of,  296. 

Fuller,  Margaret,  280,  302,  302  n. 

Furness,  Rev.  William  Henry,  206. 

Garrison,  William  Lloyd,  292,  295. 

"Garrison,  William  Lloyd,  The 
Story  of  his  Life,"  quoted,  284  n. 

Genesee  River,  73. 

Geneva,  N.  Y.,  73,  74. 

German-flats,  N.  Y.,  76. 

Germans,  large  numbers  of  at  Lan- 
caster, 62;  at  Pittsburg,  66; 
about  Utica,  76. 

Gilbert,  Washington,  Unitarian 
minister  at  Meadville,  206,  206  n, 
246. 

Gill,  William,  early  settler  of  Mead- 
ville, deprived  of  his  claim  by 
Jenny  Finney,  84. 

Grain,  first  cultivation  of,  at  Mead- 
ville, 86. 

Greenfield,  Penn.,  69. 

Greensburg,  Penn.,  65;  agency  of 
Holland  Land  Co.  at,  89;  rapid 
sale  of  lands  at,  89. 

Griffith,  Judge,  compelled  to  sell 
his  interest  in  French  Creek  lands, 
131;  clerk  of  U.  S.  Supreme 
Court,  131. 

Griffith  and  Wallace,  purchasers  of 
French  Creek  lands  for  Holland 
Land  Co.,  127;  employ  H.  J.  H., 
127;  affairs  of,  mismanaged  bv 
W.  S.  Hart,  128;  contract  of ,  with 
Hart  and  Sacket,  128;  financial 
embarrassment  of,  131. 

Hale,  Rev.  Edward  Everett,  262; 

on    the    Meadville    Theological 

School,  325. 

Halftown,  friendly  Indian,  81. 
Harrisburg,  Penn.,  a  "pretty  little 

town  of  no  importance  and  very 

little  business  "  (1802),  62. 
Harrison,  Gen.  William  Henry,  181. 
Hart,    William    S.,    employed    by 


INDEX 


375 


Griffith  and  Wallace,  127;  mis- 
management of,  128;  associated 
with  Sacket  in  contract  with  G. 
&  W.,  128;  sells  share  of  his 
profits  to  Peck  and  Shattuck, 
129;  contract  of,  with  G.  &  W., 
cancelled,  130. 

Hasselt,  Overyssel,  boarding-school 
at,  attended  by  H.  J.  H.,  17,  18. 

Hazlett,  Elizabeth  (Colhoon),  sister 
of  Mrs.  H.,  135;  in  H.  J.  H.'s  fam- 
ily at  Pomona,  149,  150. 

Hazlett,  Margaret,  niece  of  Mrs. 
H.,  204,  247;  effect  of  revivals 
upon,  218. 

Heaven,  defined  by  H.  J.  H.,  244. 

"  Hedge's  Club,"  287. 

Highlands  of  the  Hudson,  77,  78. 

"  Hill  Home,"  306  n. 

Hoche,  General,  25. 

Holland,  condition  of,  in  1806,  173, 
174;  end  of  Napoleonic  domina- 
tion in,  175. 

Holland,  Elihu  Goodwin,  246,  317- 
319,  317  n. 

Holland  Land  Co.,  history  of,  95- 
131;  an  unincorporated  associa- 
tion of  Dutch  capitalists,  95;  its 
capital,  95;  its  founders  warm 
supporters  of  the  American  Re- 
volution, 95,  96;  its  records  in- 
accessible, 96;  Stadnitzki's  pro- 
spectus, 98;  large  purchases  of 
Morris's  lands,  100;  additional 
purchases  in  Central  N.  Y.,  100; 
purchase  of  lands  on  French 
Creek,  101,  124;  questions  as  to 
title,  102;  provisions  of  the  Act 
of  1792,  102,  124;  war  with  In- 
dians prevents  the  company 
from  complying  with  conditions, 
103,  104,  125;  lands  seized  by 
"intruders,"  104,  125;  three 
views  concerning  rights  of,  and  of 
"intruders,"  105,  106;  "preven- 
tion patents"  issued  to,  under 
Gov.  Mifflin,  106;  withheld  under 
Gov.  McKean,  106;  efforts  of,  to 
perform  conditions  of  Act  of  1792, 
107,  112,  125;  institutes  litiga- 
tion to  compel  issue  of  warrants, 
108;  case  of  Commonwealth  v. 
Coxe,  108;  declines  to  appear  in 
Att'y-Gen.  v.  Grantees,  109,  109  n; 
institutes  process  in  U.  S.  Circuit 
Court  (.Huidekoper' s  Lessee  v. 
Douglass),  110;  its  contention 


by 

Court,  110;  fl.  J.  H.'s  connection 
with,  as  told  in  his  autobiography, 
124-131;  its  affairs  at  MeadviUe 
involved  in  confusion  when  H.  J. 
H.  took  over  agency,  126;  disposes 
of  French  Creek  lands  to  Griffith 
and  Wallace,  127;  Alfred  Huide- 
koper's account  of,  337-360  (Ap- 
pendix); mentioned,  26,  43,  44, 
45,  49,  56,  57,  58,  62,  70,  72,  73, 
75,  88,  88  n,  89, 131,267. 

Hoogeveen,  the,  birthplace  of  H.  J. 
H.,  founded  in  1626,  8. 

Horn,  Cornelius  van,  80. 

Hosmer,  Rev.  G.  W.,  316,  317,  318. 

Hovey,  Captain,  of  the  "  Prudence," 
28,  34. 

Hudson  River,  beauty  of,  44;  banks 
of,  77;  settlers  on,  77,  78. 

Huidekoper,  the  name,  antiquity 
of,  3n;  its  meaning,  3  n;  earliest 
mention  of,  3  n. 

Huidekoper  family,  of  Frisian  ori- 
gin, 3  n;  settled  in  and  about 
Harlingen,  3  n;  spread  to  Drenthe 
and  Amsterdam,  3  n;  belonged 
to  the  Mennonite  sect,  3,  3  n,  10; 
coat  of  arms  of,  derived  from 
that  of  the  Oldaans  family,  9. 

Huidekoper,  Albert,  nephew  of  H. 
J.  H.,  13;  comes  to  U.  S.,  177. 

Huidekoper,  Albert  Reynolds,  324. 

Huidekoper,  Alfred,  son  of  H.  J.  H., 
153;  visits  Holland,  177;  his  de- 
scription of  his  relatives'  home 
there,  177;  letters  of,  quoted,  52, 
252,  253,  299  n;  his  account  of 
the  Holland  Land  Co.,  337-360 
(Appendix). 

Huidekoper,  Anna,  daughter  of  H. 
J.  H.,  154;  proficiency  of,  in  her 
studies,  208;  southern  trip  of, 
265;  marries  J.  F.  Clarke,  270- 
272;  letters  of,  quoted,  250,  251, 
252,  258,  259,  260.  See  also 
Clarke,  Mrs.  James  Freeman. 

Huidekoper,  Anne,  father  of  H.  J. 
H.,  6, 9;  marries  Hylke  Quader,  6; 
marries  Gesiena  F.  Wolthers,  6; 
his  removal  to  the  Hoogeveen,  8, 
9;  his  children  by  his  first  mar- 
riage, 12;  by  his  second  marriage, 
12;  his  education  much  neglect- 
ed, 17;  his  death  (1799),  53  n. 

Huidekoper,  Anne  Jans,  great- 
grandfather of  H.  J.  H.,  4,  5. 


376 


INDEX 


Huidekoper,  Anne  Wilhem,  nephew 
of  H.  J.  H.,  13,  174;  quoted,  7  n, 
9n. 

Huidekoper,  Annette.  See  Eeghen, 
Annette  van. 

Huidekoper,  Arthur  Clarke,  324. 

Huidekoper,  Edgar,  son  of  H.  J.  H., 
154;  southern  trip  of,  265;  his 
father's  right-hand  man  in  af- 
fairs, 265;  marries  Frances  Ship- 
pen,  300;  leaves  Pomona  with 
his  family  for  "  Hill  Home,"  306; 
treasurer  of  Meadville  Theological 
School,  323,  323  n,  324;  letter  of, 
quoted,  224. 

Huidekoper,  Mrs.  Edgar  (Frances 
Shippen),  300. 

Huidekoper,  Edgar  Jr.,  son  of  Ed- 
gar H.,  324. 

Huidekoper,  Elizabeth  G.,  daughter 
of  H.  J.H.,154,246;  her  schooling 
under  Mr.  Nichols,  254 ;  her  help- 
fulness to  her  father,  266;  "a 
ministering  angel,"  298;  mother 
of  the  Meadville  Theological 
School,  324;  letter  of,  quoted, 
254,  255. 

Huidekoper,  Fokje  Pieters  (Old- 
aans),  grandmother  of  H.  J.  H., 
5,9. 

Huidekoper,  Frederic,  son  of  H.  J. 
H . ,  visits  Holland ,  1 77, 1 77  n,  246 ; 
his  autobiography  (MS.),  247; 
his  recollections  of  A.  P.  Pea- 
body,  247;  of  E.  Peabody,  247; 
helps  to  nurse  Rev.  Mr.  Brigham, 
256;  his  personality,  256,  257; 
enters  sophomore  at  Harvard, 
261,  313;  his  steadfastness,  286; 
his  life  at  Cambridge,  313;  re- 
turns to  Meadville  because  of 
trouble  with  eyes,  313;  in  Eu- 
rope, 314;  his  choice  of  a  pro- 
fession, 314,  315;  at  Harvard 
Divinity  School,  315;  ordained  at 
Meadville,  316;  organizes  Mead- 
ville Theological  School,  316  ff; 
E.  E.  Kale's  testimony  concern- 
ing, 325. 

Huidekoper,  Mrs.  Frederic  (Harriet 
N.  Thorp),  321  n. 

Huidekoper,  Frederic  Wolthers,  son 
of  H.  J.,  death  of,  in  childhood, 
153;  his  schooling,  155,  156. 

Huidekoper,  Frederic  Wolters,  son 
of  Edgar  H.,  324. 

Huidekoper,    Gertrude    (Stinstra), 


first  wife  of  Jan  Huidekoper,  12, 
13. 

Huidekoper,  Gesiena  Frederica 
(Wolthers),  second  wife  of  Anne, 
and  mother  of  H.  J.  H.,  6, 11;  her 
mind  of  a  high  order,  but  uncul- 
tivated, 17;  her  affection  for  H. 
J.  H.,  17;  death  of,  176;  letter  of, 
quoted,  145. 

HUIDEKOPER,  HARM  JAN,  birth  of 
(April  3,  1776),  9;  his  own  ac- 
count of  his  family,  9-13;  consti- 
tution of,  very  feeble  in  child- 
hood, 13;  thought,  at  one  time, 
to  be  dead,  13;  health,  after 
tenth  year,  uniformly  good,  13; 
early  schooling  at "  dame  school " 
and  village  school,  14;  early  ac- 
quired inclination  for  mathe- 
matics, 14;  state  of  society  in 
respect  to  education  in  his  boy- 
hood, 15,  16;  sent  to  boarding- 
school  at  Hasselt,  Overyssel,  aged 
ten,  17;  sent  to  Institute  of  Cre- 
feld  by  stepbrother,  18,  19;  igno- 
rance of  German,  a  drawback 
soon  overcome,  19,  20;  details  of 
life  at  Crefeld,  20-22;  narrowly 
escapes  encounter  with  Imperial- 
ist troops  in  retreat  after  Fleurus, 
24;  leaves  Crefeld  (1795),  25; 
plans  to  go  to  America,  27;  visits 
parents  (1795-96),  27;  sails  from 
the  Helder  on  brig  Prudence 
(Aug.,  1796),  28;  tedious  voy- 
age, 28,  29;  improves  his  know- 
ledge of  English  during  voyage, 
29;  arrival  at  New  York,  29; 
alone  in  a  strange  land,  30;  dis- 
advantages of  his  situation,  30; 
impressions  of  New  York,  31 ; 
welcomed  by  Messrs.  Le  Roy, 
Bayard,  and  McEvers,  35,  36;  his 
purpose  to  become  a  farmer,  38; 
influence  of  Mappa  and  van  der 
Kemp,  42 ;  travels  from  New 
York  to  Albany,  44;  impressions 
of  the  Hudson,  44;  from  Albany 
to  Fort  Schuyler  by  stage,  44,  45; 
Fort  Schuyler  to  Oldenbarneveld, 
45;  his  estimate  of  Gerrit  Boon, 
46;  difficult  journey  from  Olden- 
barneveld to  Cazenovia,  46,  47; 
breakfast  at  9.30  P.  M.,  47;  spends 
winter  (1796-97)  with  H.  de 
Clercq  at  Cazenovia,  47;  clerk  to 
John  Lincklaen,  48;  in  Olden- 


INDEX 


377 


barneveld  1797  to  1802,  48;  suc- 
ceeds Smits  as  clerk  to  A.  G. 
Mappa  (Holland  Land  Co.),  51; 
desires  to  assist  his  parents,  51; 
sojourn  of,  at  Oldenbarneveld 
pleasant  in  retrospect,  51;  his 
pride  in  growth  of  the  settlement, 
52;  continued  interest  in  vicissi- 
tudes of  Holland,  52,  53;  suc- 
ceeds Smits  as  book-keeper  for 
P.  Busti,  and  removes  to  Phila. 
(1802),  56;  secretary  and  book- 
keeper of  Penn.  Population  Co., 
56;  succeeds  P.  Busti  as  general 
agent  of  H.  L.  Co.,  57;  manifold 
benefits  of  residence  in  Phila.,  57; 
journey  to  Meadville  on  horse- 
back, 57,  59-78;  impressions  of 
Pittsburg  and  of  Meadville,  58; 
joined  by  his  brother  Pieter  at 
Meadville,  87,  88  n.;  purchases 
20,000  acres  of  H.  L.  Co.  land, 
88  n.;  succeeds  Major  Alden  as 
agent  at  Meadville,  88;  becomes 
superintending  agent  of  other 
lands  east  of  the  Allegheny,  88; 
reasons  for  leaving  Phila.,  89;  ar- 
rives at  Meadville  (Nov.,  1805), 
89;  advertises  agency  in  "  Craw- 
ford Messenger,"  93;  his  views 
concerning  "  intruders,"  105;  his 
wish  to  be  naturalized,  110;  on 
opinion  of  Marshall,  C.  J.  in  Hui- 
dekoper's  Lessee  v.  Douglass,  111; 
his  strong  feeling  in  favor  of  H. 
L.  Co.,  112,  114,  116;  describes 
interview  with  Douglass,  115;  sat- 
isfaction of,  with  decision  of  Su- 
preme Court,  118,  119;  dealings 
of,  with  "intruders,"  after  the 
decision,  120-124;  acquires  po- 
sition of  authority  in  the  com- 
munity, 122;  confusion  of  af- 
fairs at  Meadville  at  inception  of 
agency  of,  126;  assists  at  sale  of 
French  Creek  lands  to  Griffith 
and  Wallace,  127;  agent  of  ven- 
dors and  vendees,  127;  enters 
employ  of  G.  andW.,  127;reduced 
salary,  but  increased  commis- 
sions, 127;  takes  on  agency  for 
lands  purchased  by  Penn.  Pop. 
Co.,  127;  intrigues  of  Sacket  and 
others  to  secure  his  removal,  129, 
130;  acquires  additional  agencies 
after  assignments  of  Wallace  and 
the  Wurts,  131;  first  meets  Re- 


becca Colhoon,  135;  his  descrip- 
tion of  her,  in  letter  to  Jan  H., 
136,  137;  his  disappointment  at 
her  coolness,  137;  buys  land  for 
a  homestead,  139;  difficulties  of 
his  courtship,  140;  clearing  land 
and  building,  144;  marriage  to 
R.  C.  (Sept.,  1806),  144,  147; 
household  of,  at  Pomona,  148, 
149;  death  of  infant  daughter 
(Anna)  and  of  son  (Frederic 
Wolthers),  152,  153;  expense  of 
maintaining  family,  154  n.;  vi- 
sions of  a  model  settlement,  158; 
uncertainty  as  to  its  location, 
158;  identifies  himself  with  in- 
terests of  Meadville,  159;  occa- 
sional lack  of  funds,  158,  159; 
slanderous  attack  upon,  in 
"Crawford  Messenger,"  159,  160; 
yearly  drive  of  livestock  insti- 
tuted by,  164;  transactions  of, 
furnished  people  of  Meadville 
district  with  most  of  their  cash, 
167;  his  collecting  trips,  168, 169; 
shot  at  by  unknown  assailant, 
169;  an  object  of  curiosity,  170; 
his  multifarious  accounts,  170; 
criticises  government  of  Penn., 
171;  and  of  U.  S.  (1806),  171, 
172;  views  of,  concerning  War  of 
1812,  178,  179-190;  interest  of, 
in  Beaver  and  Erie  Canal,  190; 
letter  of,  to  Board  of  Canal 
Comm'rs,  191  n  ;  his  invest- 
ments in  land,  192;  makes  final 
payment  for  them  (1840),  193; 
his  Right  and  Duty  of  Accu- 
mulation, quoted,  193,  194;  in- 
fluence of,  upon  young  men  en- 
tering upon  frontier  life,  245;  in 
the  hunting  field,  248;  lecture  by 
on  the  advantages  of  intellectual 
cultivation,  258;  MissMartineau's 
visit  to,  at  Pomona,  259-261; 
gives  land  for  Unitarian  church 
at  Meadville,  268;  satisfaction 
of,  with  Anna's  marriage,  271; 
visits  Boston  with  Anna,  271; 
entertained  there,  272;  sympa- 
thy of,  with  J.  F.  Clarke's  phi- 
lanthropic schemes,  272,  274; 
an  uncompromising  anti-slavery 
man,  but  not  a  radical  abolition- 
ist, 292;  views  of,  on  slavery, 
293  ff ;  gradual  advance  in  position 
of,  concerning  slavery,  295;  and 


378 


INDEX 


the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  296;  as- 
sists fugitive  slaves,  296,  297; 
death  of  Mrs.  H.,  298^-300;  finds 
solace  in  his  grandchildren,  300; 
entertains  Sunday-schools  at  Po- 
mona on  July  4,  304;  advice  of, 
to  son  Frederic  as  to  choice  of 
profession,  314,  315;  share  of,  in 
establishing  Meadville  Theologi- 
cal School,  319-322;  last  years 
and  death  of,  327. 

Religious :  early  religious  train- 
ing of,  18,  200;  joins  Dutch  Re- 
formed Church  at  Hesselt,  18;  in- 
fluence of  course  at  Crefeld  on  his 
moral  and  religious  character, 
22,  23;  becomes  more  liberal  in 
his  sentiments,  23;  and  Unita- 
rianism,  current  saying  concern- 
ing, 197;  his  catholicity  of  mind, 
201;  a  generous  contributor  to 
Presbyterian  church  at  Mead- 
ville, though  not  a  member,  201 ; 
religious  opinions  of,  not  fixed 
until  growth  of  his  children  de- 
manded definite  action,  201 ;  ef- 
fect upon,  of  Campbell's  sermon, 
202;  his  diligent  study  of  the 
Bible,  202,  203  n;  his  gradual 
adoption  of  Unitarian  tenets, 
202;  his  zealous  efforts  to  spread 
the  faith,  202,  203,  204;  forbear- 
ance of,  in  his  proselytism,  204; 
sets  about  organizing  Unitarian 
society  in  Meadville,  single- 
handed,  205;  Rev.  E.  Peabody 's 
estimate  of,  208;  his  belief  in 
efficacy  of  public  discussion, 
209  n;  subscribes  to  Allegheny 
College,  210  n.;  answers  attacks 
of  Messrs.  Alden  and  Bushnell  on 
Unitarians,  210,  211;  article  in 
"Crawford  Messenger,"  quoted, 
211,  212;  closes  his  twenty  pews 
in  Presbyterian  church,  213; 
newspaper  controversy  with  "  Pe- 
titioner concerning  transmis- 
sion of  mails  on  Sunday,  214-217; 
and  with  "Presbyterian"  con- 
cerning revivals,  217-219;  reli- 
gious ideas  of,  more  revolutionary 
than  he  realized,  219;  associated 
with  Rev.  E.  Peabody  in  conduct 
of  "Unitarian  Essayist,"  220;  sole 
editor  of  "Essayist,"  221;  rebukes 
Rev.  Mr.  James  in  "Essayist," 
225, 226;  contributions  of,  to  "  Es- 


sayist," quoted,  228-238;  essays 
of,  on  "  Man  and  his  Destiny  "  and 
"  Future  Retribution "  express 
his  individual  ideas,  238-241 ;  on 
"  extinction"  of  the  wicked,  241- 
243;  his  definition  of  Heaven, 
244;  discontinues  publication  of 
"Essayist,"  263;  induces  Rev. 
E.  Peabody  to  start  "  Western 
Messenger,"  263;  intimate  rela- 
tions with  J.  F.  Clarke  due  to 
connection  with  "  Messenger," 
264;  views  of,  concerning  social 
and  religious  "reforms,  278, 
279;  not  in  full  sympathy  with 
Emerson,  280;  still  less  with  Al- 
cott  and  Brownson,  280;  papers 
of,  on  Brownson,  in  "Western 
Messenger,"  282,  283;  his  criti- 
cism of  W.  H.  Channing,  284, 
285;  views  of,  concerning  tran- 
scendentalism, 286,  287;  on 
Brook  Farm,  288;  on  the  dissen- 
sions in  J.  F.  Clarke's  society, 
289;  classed  among  Pantheists, 
291;  on  Pantheism,  291. 

Personal  characteristics :  al- 
ways spoke  of  himself  as  a  Hol- 
lander, 1  n;  a  true  Hollander  in 
many  respects,  1;  his  observant 
mind,  48;  his  rigid  economy,  51; 
his  warm  affection  for  his  kindred 
and  friends  in  Holland,  53-55;  his 
practice  of  attending  personally 
to  all  business,  122;  the  Hollander 
superseded  by  the  American,  158; 
his  beneficent  oversight  of  the 
pioneers  who  bought  land  of  him, 
161;  cases  of  Daniel  Kane  and 
Frederick  Stein,  162,  163 ;  his 
courtesy,  168;  his  system  and 
order  in  business,  170;  his  sym- 
pathy with  childhood's  joys  and 
griefs,  307;  his  intense  affection 
for  his  children  and  grandchil- 
dren, 307,  308;  the  "  light  on  his 
face  "  corresponded  to  the  joyous- 
ness  of  his  spirit,  308;  anecdotes 
of,  328  ff;  his  benevolence,  332; 
"charge  it  to  Huidekoper,"  332; 
in  his  home,  333-335. 

Autobiography,  quoted,  9-31, 
44-48,  50-51,  56-58,  88-89,  111, 
124-131,  147,  152,  153,  194-196, 
308-310. 

Letters,  quoted,  32-37,  37,  48- 
50,  50  n,  52,  53,  54,  59-78,  88  n, 


INDEX 


379 


89  n,  105,  111,  112-124, 136-138, 
140-144,  151,  153,  154  n,  158, 
160,  161,  168  n,  171,  173,  178, 
179, 182, 184, 185, 188, 190, 191  n, 
209  n,  220,221,  223,  227  n,  242, 
262,  263,  265,  266,  267,  270,  271, 
272,  274,  275,  277,  279,  280,  281, 
283,  284,  286,  288,  289,  290,  291, 
292,  294,  295,  298,  300,  301,  302, 
305,  306,  310-312,  314,  315,  319, 
320,  327. 

Huidekoper,  Henderina  Caterina, 
sister  of  H.  J.  H.,  8;  her  death,  13. 

Huidekoper,  Gen.  Henry  S.,  son  of 
Edgar  H.,  296, 297;  H.  J.  H.'s  de- 
light in  him  as  a  child,  301 ;  trus- 
tee of  Meadville  Theological 
School,  324. 

Huidekoper,  Hinke  Pieters.  great- 
grandmother  of  H.  J.  H.,  5. 

Huidekoper,  Hylke,  first  wife  of 
Anne  H.,  6. 

Huidekoper,  Jacoba  (de  Bie),  sec- 
ond wife  of  Jan  H.,  12. 

Huidekoper,  Jan  (John),  step-bro- 
ther of  H.  J.  H.,  6;  twice  married, 
12;  his  children,  12, 13,  26;  sends 
H.  J.  H.  to  Cref  eld  to  complete  his 
education,  18;  noble  generosity 
of  his  conduct,  18;  voyage  of,  to 
the  U.  S.,  25,  25  n,  26;  his  meet- 
ing with  Talleyrand  there,  25  n; 
his  marriage  to  Miss  Stinstra,  26; 
furnishes  H.  J.  H.  with  means  to 
go  to  America,  27;  engaged  in 
mercantile  business  hi  Amster- 
dam, 28;  and  in  insurance,  28; 
entry  concerning,  in  H.  J.  H.'s 
accounts,  171;  second  marriage 
of,  174;  his  investments  in  land 
hi  U.  S.,  176;  privy  councilor  to 
King  of  the  Netherlands,  177;  cor- 
respondence of,  with  H.  J.  H., 
continues  till  his  death,  177;  his 
death,  (1835)  178;  letters  of, 
quoted,  132,  138,  139,  173,  174, 
175. 

Huidekoper,  Jan  (2),  son  of  Jan  and 
nephew  of  H.  J.  H.,  13;  marries 
daughter  of  Jan  Huidekoper  of 
Harlingen,  13;  visits  U.  S.,  177. 

Huidekoper,  Jan  Annes,  grand- 
father of  H.  J.  H.,  5;  his  portrait, 
5;  his  marriage,  5,  9;  moves  from 
Harlingen  to  Berlikum,  6. 

Huidekoper,  Pieter,  uncle  of  H.  J. 
H.,  10;  his  children,  10. 


Huidekoper,  Pieter,  nephew  of  H.  J. 
H.,  13;  marries  Miss  van  Eeghen, 
13,  174,  178  n. 

Huidekoper,  Pieter  Ketel,  younger 
brother  of  H.  J.  H.,  8;  intends  to 
enter  the  army,  53,  54;  comes  to 
America,  87,  89;  his  character, 
87,88;  his  great  strength,  87,  88; 
death  of,  at  Meadville,  13. 

Huidekoper,  Rebecca  (Colhoon), 
ancestry  of,  133;  her  first  meet- 
ing with  H.  J.  H.,  in  Pittsburg, 
135;  his  description  of  her  person 
and  character,  136,  137;  her 
coolness  to  him,  137;  their  mar- 
riage (Sept.,  1806),  144;  her 
housekeeping,  149, 150;  hermani- 
fold  occupations,  156, 157;  south- 
era  trip  of,  265;  ill  health  of,  268; 
her  death  (Oct.,  1839),  298. 

Huidekoper,  Saapke  (Sophia),  step- 
sister of  H.  J.  H.  See  Steenbergen, 
Saapke. 

Huidekoper  Hall,  323. 

Huidekoper  Park,  332. 

Huidekoper' s  Lessee  v.  Douglass,  94, 
110,  126;  opinion  of  Marshall,  C. 
J.  in,  110,  counsel  engaged  in, 
115  n;  H.  J.  H.'s  satisfaction 
with  result  of,  118;  effect  of  de- 
cision of,  in  restoring  peace,  126. 

Hull,  General  Isaac,  181,  190. 

Huydecooper.   See  Huidekoper. 

Huydecopers  of  Maarseveen,  4  n. 

Imperialists,  incident  of  retreat  of, 
after  Fleurus  (1794),  23,  24. 

Impressment  of  an  American  from 
the  "Prudence,"  31,  33. 

Independent  Congregational  Church 
(Unitarian)  of  Meadville,  organ- 
ized, 206;  constitution  of,  206; 
first  places  of  worship  of,  207; 
characteristics  and  influence  of, 
207;  opposition  to  and  persecu- 
tion of,  in  pastorate  of  Mr.  Gil- 
bert, 213;  services  of,  held  in 
Court  House,  213;  ministers  of, 
246  ff ;  church  edifice  completed, 
268;  and  dedicated  (Aug.  1836), 
269;  Frederic  Huidekoper  or- 
dained in,  316. 

"  Independent  Congregational  (Uni- 
tarian) Church  of  Meadville,  Pa., 
The,"  by  E.  M.  Wilbur,  cited, 
205  n,  206  n,  255  n,  268  n,  304  n. 

Indian  war,  its  effect  upon  title  to 


380 


INDEX 


lands  granted  to  Holland  Land 
Co.,  103,  105,  106. 

Indians,  in  the  Meadville  country, 
79;  attack  settlement  of  the 
Meads,  80;  friendly,  81;  settlers 
harassed  by,  81,  82;  trouble 
with,  arrested  by  Wayne,  82, 
103;  in  the  War  of  1812,  181. 

"Institutes,"  in  Germany,  charac- 
teristics of,  19. 

Intellectual  darkness  of  parts  of 
Europe  in  latter  years  of  eigh- 
teenth century,  causes  of,  15;  con- 
ditions somewhat  better  among 
the  gentry  than  among  the 
masses,  15,  16. 

"Intruders,"  seize  Holland  Land 
Co.'s  lands  on  French  Creek,  104; 
different  classes  of,  make  com- 
mon cause  against  the  company, 
104;  conspire  to  destroy  records 
and  expel  or  murder  agents  of 
company,  105;  cease  to  act  in 
concert,  105;  their  contention, 
105;  Busti  advises  granting  spe- 
cial terms  to,  120;  H.  J.  H.'s 
treatment  of,  120-123,  125. 

Irish,  near  Harrisburg,  Penn.,  less 
thrifty  than  Germans,  63. 

James,  Rev.  Mr.,  Episcopal  clergy- 
man at  Meadville,  attempts  to 
arrest  Mrs.  Shippen's  conversion 
to  Unitarianism,  222,  223;  and 
Judge  Shippen,  223;  cripples  his 
own  cause,  224. 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  41 ;  his  conduct 
of  foreign  affairs  criticized  by  H. 
J.  H.,  171,  172. 

Jeffrey,  Miss,  visits  Pomona  with 
Miss  Martineau,  260. 

Jesus,  believed  by  Unitarians  to  be 
the  Messenger  of  Jehovah,  228; 
supernatural  powers  ascribed  to, 
H.  J.  H.'s  views  concerning,  236, 
237. 

Jourdan,  Marshal,  commanding 
army  of  Sambre  et  Meuse,  23. 

Juniata  River,  64. 

Kane,  Daniel,  of  Hayfield,  generous 

treatment  of,  by  H.  J.  H.,  162. 
Keats,  John,  Journal  of,  extracts 

from,     published    in    "Western 

Messenger,"  264. 
Kemp,  Francis  Adrian  van  der,  39- 

42;  born  at  Kampen  (Overyssel), 


in  1752, 39;  not  a  Mennonite,  but 
pastor  of  a  Mennonite  Baptist 
society  in  Ley  den,  39;  his  reli- 
gious experiences,  39,  40;  called 
a  Unitarian,  40;  prominent  in 
Dutch  patriot  party,  40;  raises 
and  drills  militia  in  opposition  to 
government,  40;  imprisoned,  40; 
released  and  banished,  40;  comes 
to  America,  40;  settles  at "  Kemp- 
wyk,"  in  "Scriba's  Patent,"  and 
finally  at  Oldenbarneveld,  41; 
translates  records  of  West  India 
Company,  41;  called  by  De  Witt 
Clinton  "the  most  learned  man 
in  America,"  41 ;  his  correspond- 
ents, 41 ;  letters  to  John  Adams, 
41 ;  friendship  with  Jefferson,  41 ; 
receives  degree  of  LL.  D.  from 
Harvard  (1820),  42, 49;  H.  J.  H.'s 
estimate  of,  50;  "Autobiogra- 
phy "  of,  quoted,  39  n. 

Kemp,  Mrs.  Francis  A.  van  der,  40, 
41;  one  of  the  "really  excellent 
of  this  earth,"  50. 

Kemp,  John  J.  van  der,  son  of  Fran- 
cis Adrian,  76. 

Kempwyk,  home  of  F.  A.  van  der 
Kemp,  41,  49. 

Kennedy,  Dr.,  with  David  Mead 
and  Major  Alden  surveys  Mead- 
ville, 83;  brings  the  first  wheat  to 
the  town,  86;  mentioned,  90, 119. 

Ketel,  Anna  Christina.  See  Wol- 
thers,  Anna  Christina. 

Kidder,  Elizabeth  Huidekoper,  324. 

King's  Chapel,  first  avowedly  Uni- 
tarian church  in  America,  199. 

Kleber,  General,  25. 

Klunderenberg,  Den,  8. 

Koehler,  F.  W.,  254;  wife  of,  "heir 
to  Holland  Co.,"  254. 

Kortenaer,  village  of,  49,  75. 

Laboring  classes  in  Drenthe,  condi- 
tion of,  in  H.  J.  H.'s  boyhood,  16. 

Lancaster,  Penn.,  description  of,  in 
1802,  61;  inhabitants  largely 
Germans,  62. 

Lancaster  County,  Penn.,  beauty 
and  fertility  of,  62. 

Land  Office  of  Penn.,  under  Gov. 
Mifflin,  ruling  of,  concerning  title 
to  lands  of  Holland  Land  Co. ,  106. 

Le  Boauf,  Fort.  Sec  Waterford. 

Lefevre,  Marshal,  Duke  of  Dantzig, 
25. 


INDEX 


381 


Leffingwell,  Mr.,  teacher  of  Frederic 
Wolthers  and  Anna  Huidekoper, 
155. 

Le  Roy,  Herman,  35;  trustee  for 
purchasers  of  Morris  lands  in 
N.  Y.,  100;  agent  of  purchasers 
of  land  in  Penn.,  101. 

Lieu,  Mr.  van,  Presbyterian  minis- 
ter at  Meadville,  relations  of,  with 
H.  J.  H.,  209. 

Lincklaen,  John,  comes  to  America 
with  Gerrit  Boon  (1790),  43; 
agent  of  Holland  Land  Co.,  44; 
visited  by  H.  J.  H.,  48,  75;  trustee 
for  purchasers  of  Morris  lands  in 
N.  Y.,  100. 

Livestock,  yearly  drive  of,  insti- 
tuted by  H.  J.  H.,  164-167. 

Long  Island,  Dutch  the  common 
language  among  old  people  and 
negroes  (1796),  30;  first  impres- 
sions of,  34,  37. 

Luzac,  John,  40. 

Lyceum,  the,  at  Meadville,  258. 

Machault,  Fort.  See  Franklin,  Fort. 

Madison,  James,  and  the  War  of 
1812,  179. 

Mails,  transmission  of,  on  Sunday, 
opposed  by  petition,  213;  discus- 
sion of,  by  "Oberlin"  (H.  J.  H.) 
and  "Petitioner,"  214-216. 

"Man  and  his  Destiny,"  H.  J.  H.'s 
essay  on,  238,  241. 

Maple  Sugar,  anecdote  of  Gerrit 
Boon  and,  45. 

Mappa,  Adam  G.,  35,  38,  42,  43; 
rather  soldier  than  scholar,  42; 
marriage  to  Anna  A.  Paspoort, 
42;  a  leader  of  the  patriots,  and 
commander  of  the  "Vry  corps," 
42 ;  comes  to  America  ( 1 789) ,  43 ; 
settles  at  Olden barneveld  (1795), 
43,  49;  succeeds  Boon  as  agent 
of  Holland  Land  Co.,  50;  in  the 
War  of  1812,  184  n;  mentioned, 
49,  75. 

Mappa,  Anna  Adrian  (Paspoort), 
wife  of  Adam  G.,  41;  a  woman 
of  great  beauty  of  character,  42; 
H.J.  H.'s  regard  for,  50;  a  lifelong 
correspondent  of  H.  J.  H.,  52. 

Mappa,  Miss,  daughter  of  Adam  G., 
succeeds  her  mother  as  corre- 
spondent of  H.  J.  H.,  52;  visited 
by  Alfred  Huidekoper,  52  n;  let- 
ter of,  quoted,  200. 


Marshall,  John,  Chief  Justice  of 
U.  S.  Supreme  Court,  delivers 
opinion  in  Huidekoper' 's  Lessee  v. 
Douglass,  110;  his  opinion  quot- 
ed, 111. 

Martineau,  Harriet,  visit  of,  to 
Meadville,  259  ff;  Anna  Huide- 
koper's  impressions  of,  259,  260; 
her  religious  and  political  opin- 
ions, 260;  "Autobiography  of, 
quoted,  261. 

Mayhew,  Jonathan,  first  to  attack 
openly  the  doctrine  of  the  Trin- 
ity, 198. 

McDowell,  Alex.,  deputy  agent  un- 
der Major  Alden,  his  neglect  of 
duty,  126. 

McDowell,  Esther.  See  Colhoon, 
Esther  (McDowell). 

McEvers,  Mr.,  35,  36,  37. 

McKean,  Thomas,  succeeds  Mifflin 
as  governor  of  Penn.,  106. 

McMillen,  John,  162. 

Mead,  Darius,  80. 

Mead,  David,  one  of  the  first  white 
settlers  at  Cussewago,  now  Mead- 
ville, 80;  driven  away  by  In- 
dians, but  returns,  80,  81 ;  builds 
stockade  and  blockhouse,  81,  82, 
82  n;  builds  the  second  frame 
house  in  town,  84;  marries  Jenny 
Finney,  84;  justice  of  the  peace, 
85;  judge,  plaintiff,  and  con- 
stable in  his  own  suit  for  debt, 
85;  sets  up  a  whiskey  still,  86, 
90;  in  the  War  of  1812,  183,  184. 

Mead,  Jenny  (Finney),  first  school 
teacher  ("mistress  of  the  taws") 
at  Meadville,  84;  squats  on 
claim  of  William  Gill,  84;  mar- 
ries David  Mead,  84;  her  daugh- 
ter afterward  marries  Gill's  son, 
84  n. 

Mead,  John,  80. 

Meadville  (formerly  Cussewago), 
first  visit  of  H.  J.  H.  to,  57,  58;  in 
1802,  a  small  village,  mostly  of 
log  houses,  58,  67,  68;  apparent 
poverty  of  people  of,  68;  ex- 
treme isolation  of,  in  1802,  78; 
description  of,  at  that  tune,  79; 
beautiful  situation  of,  79;  settle- 
ment of  David  Mead  at,  80,  81 ; 
garrison  at,  81 ;  rapid  growth  of, 
after  1795,  82;  surveyed  and  laid 
out,  83;  its  streets  mainly  cordu- 
roy roads,  83;  river  traffic  of,  in 


382 


INDEX 


1802,  85,  86;  cultivation  of  grain 
introduced,  86;  whiskey  stills 
set  up  by  Mead  and  others,  86, 
87;  change  in,  between  H.  J.  H.'s 
first  and  second  visits,  89;  first 
manufacturing  at,  90;  combined 
court  house  and  jail  at,  used  also 
as  place  of  worship,  90;  "Craw- 
ford Messenger,"  first  newspaper 
at,  90;  rapid  settlement  and  im- 
provement of  region,  after  the 
War  of  1812,  130, 131;  first  stage 
arrives  in,  147;  in  the  War  of  1812, 
179;  breaking  ground  for  feeder 
of  Beaver  and  Erie  Canal  at,  192; 
efforts  of  H.  J.  H.  to  organize 
Unitarian  church  at,  205;  Inde- 
pendent Congregational  Church 
(Unitarian)  of,  organized,  206 ; 
becomes  centre  of  culture  in  Penn- 
sylvania interior,  245;  Unitarian 
cnurch  edifice  at,  completed,  268; 
and  dedicated,  270  n;  a  station  on 
the  "  underground  railroad,"  297. 

Meadville  Academy,  89,  156. 

Meadville  Theological  School,  the, 
313-326;  organized  by  Frederic 
Huidekoper,  316  ff;  R.  P.  Steb- 
bins,  first  president  of,  322;  first 
meetings  of,  322;  faculty  of,  322; 
contributions  to,  323;  present 
status  of,  323;  semi-centennial 
of,  323;  its  debt  to  the  Huide- 
koper family,  324;  its  tolerance 
and  liberality,  325;  some  statistics 
of,  325;  thrown  open  to  women, 
325;  E.  E.  Hale  on,  325. 

Menno  Simons,  founder  of  the  Men- 
nonite  sect,  2;  his  teachings,  2. 

Mennonites,  growth  of  the  sect,  de- 
spite persecution,  2;  relaxation 
of  discipline  and  its  result,  3; 
congregation  at  Germantown, 
Penn.,  3  n;  in  the  United  States, 
3  n;  congregation  at  Crefeld,  22, 
23;  were  Baptists,  39  n. 

Merrick,  John  Mudge,  tutor  to  H. 
J.  H.'s  children,  205,  205  n; 
preaches  at  Meadville  two  years, 
206,  246,  272. 

Messenger.  See  "  Crawford  Messen- 
ger," and  "  Western  Messenger." 

Middletown,  Penn.,  62. 

Mifflin,  Thomas,  Governor  of  Penn., 
106. 

Miller,  Robert,  134,  134  n. 

Miracles,  H.  J.  H.'s  essay  on,  237. 


Mohawk  River,  76. 

Monongahela  River,  65,  66. 

Morris,  Robert,  Sup't  of  Finance, 
buys  3,800,000  acres  of  wild  land 
in  Western  N.  Y.,  97;  makes 
large  sales  to  trustees  for  Holland 
Land  Co.,  100;  location  of  his 
lands,  100. 

Mound-builders,  relics  of,  near 
Meadville,  79. 

Napoleon,  manifesto  of,  published 
in  the  "  Crawford  Messenger,"  91 ; 
his  embargo  at  Amsterdam,  91 ; 
his  domination  of  Holland,  173. 

New  Amsterdam.  See  Buffalo. 

Newark,  78. 

"  News,"  as  published  by  "  Craw- 
ford Messenger,"  90. 

Newspapers,  character  of,  in  North- 
ern Europe,  in  latter  years  of 
eighteenth  century,  15;  first, 
published  in  Meadville,  90;  in 
U.  S.  in  1825,  211. 

New  York,  in  1796,  31,  35;  in  1802, 
78. 

Niagara  Falls,  visited  by  H.  J.  H., 
58,  71. 

Nichols,  Rev.  George,  Unitarian 
minister  at  Meadville,  222,  222  n, 
246, 255;  tutor  to  H.  J.  H.'s  chil- 
dren, 254;  Frederic  H.'s  recollec- 
tions of,  254. 

Non-residents,  assessors  in  Penn. 
discriminate  against,  117. 

Norton,  Prof.  Andrews,  272,  273. 

"  Oberlin,"  nom  de  guerre  of  H.  J.  H. 
in  newspaper  controversy,  215. 

Obituary  of  H.  J.  H.  by  J.  F. 
Clarke,  quoted,  204. 

Oil  Creek,  land  of  Holland  Land 
Co.  at,  68;  its  underground  trea- 
sures unsuspected  in  1802,  68  n. 

Oldaans,  the  name,  found  on  the  roll 
of  the  fugitives  from  the  persecu- 
tion of  Alva,  2;  origin  of,  5  n. 

Oldaans  family,  seal  of,  9  n. 

Oldaans,  Fokje  Pieters.  See  Huide- 
koper, Fokje  Pieters. 

Oldaans,  Pieter  Jans,  6. 

Oldaans,  Pieter  Pieters,  5  n. 

Oldaens.   See  Oldaans. 

Oldenbarneveld  (later  Trenton,  now 
Barneveld),  30,  38;  members  of 
the  "Patriot"  party,  exiled  at, 
38-43;  named  for  the  great 


INDEX 


Dutch  reformer,  by  Gerrit  Boon, 
43;  visited  by  H.  J.  H.,  45;  un- 
wisely located  by  Boon,  46;  letter. 
of  H.  J.  H.  concerning,  quoted, 
50  n;  visit  of  H.  J.  H.  to  (1802), 
75;  Unitarian  church  at,  200. 

Onderdonk,  Bishop,  225. 

Oneida  Lake,  49,  50. 

Onondaga,  74;  salt  works  at,  74, 86. 

Original  Sin,  H.  J.  H.'s  essays  on, 
231. 

"Our  Fortifications,"  by  F.  H., 
quoted,  82  n. 

Pantheists,  H.  J.  H.,  classed  among, 
291. 

Parker,  Theodore,  278,  280,  289;  H. 
J.  H.'s  criticism  of,  290. 

Patriot  party  of  the  Netherlands, 
members  of,  in  exile  at  Olden- 
barneveld,  38-43;  first  investors 
in  United  States  bonds  affiliated 
with,  39. 

Peabody,  Andrew  Preston,  tutor 
at  Meadyille,  246;  Frederic  H.'s 
recollections  of,  247;  mentioned, 
272. 

Peabody,  Miss  Elizabeth,  288. 

Peabody,  Rev.  Ephraim,  Unitarian 
minister  at  Meadville,  206,  206  n; 
his  sojourn  in  Meadville  a  com- 
paratively peaceful  time,  219; 
his  manifold  labors,  220;  founds 
the  "Unitarian  Essayist,"  220; 
leaves  Meadville  for  Cincinnati, 
221;  his  Phi  Beta  Kappa  poem 
(1835),  245  n;  Frederic  H.'s  recol- 
lections of,  247;  his  influence  over 
Frederic  and  his  brothers  and 
sisters,  247,  248;  as  a  sportsman, 
248, 249;  editor  of  "  Western  Mes- 
senger," 262,  264;  succeeded  in 
editorship  by  J.  F.  Clarke,  264, 
266;  at  dedication  of  Unitarian 
church  at  Meadville,  270  n;  letters 
of,  quoted,  207,  208,  210,  220, 
270  n. 

Peekskill,  78. 

Pennsylvania,  criticism  of  the  gov- 
ernment of,  171;  constitution  of , 
has  "  a  direct  tendency  to  intro- 
duce a  government  of  dema- 
gogues," 171. 

Pennsylvania  General  Assembly, 
Act  of  April  3,  1792,  102;  Act  of 
April  2,  1802  ("Feigned  Issue"), 
provisions  of,  108,  109,  124,  125. 


Pennsylvania  Population  Co.,  56, 
57, 127;  members  of,  127  n. 

Perry,  Commodore,  H.  J.  H.'s  admi- 
ration for,  182, 183 ;  his  part  in  the 
War  of  1812,  183,  185-187;  and 
Elliott,  dispute  between,  188- 
190. 

"  Petitioner,"  discussion  between 
H.  J.  H.  and,  concerning  trans- 
mission of  mails  on  Sunday,  214— 
216. 

Philadelphia,  H.  J.  H.'s  residence  at, 
56—58 

Pittsburg,  in  1802,  58,  65,  66;  lovely 
situation  of,  66;  shipbuilding  at, 
66;  Unitarian  church  organized 
in,  200. 

Plaster  of  Paris  used  for  fertilizer, 
60,77. 

Ploeg,  Rev.  Mr.  Van  der,  Mennonite 
minister  at  Crefeld,  22. 

"Pomona,"  H.  J.  H.'s  estate  at 
Meadville,  beginning  of,  139;  lo- 
cation of,  147;  description  of 
house  and  grounds,  148;  house- 
keeping at,  149,  150;  garden  of, 
150,  151;  rehearsals  of  church 
music  at,  207;  schoolroom  at,  246; 
house  enlarged,  246  n;  H.  J.  H.'s 
household  at,  248;  recreation  at, 
248  ff;  Miss  Martineau's  visit  to, 
259-261 ;  grandchildren  born  at, 
300,  302;  always  a  favorite  play- 
ground, 303;  Fourth  of  July  at, 
303,  304;  in  1852,  334. 

"  Pomona  Hall,"  by  Alfred  Huide- 
koper,  cited,  133,  134,  151,  203, 
204. 

Poughkeepsie,  77. 

"  Presbyterian,"  controversy  be- 
tween H.  J.  H.  and,  concerning 
revivals,  217-219. 

Presbyterian  church  at  Meadville, 
85. 

"  Present,  The,"  284. 

Press,  on  which  "  Crawford  Messen- 
ger" was  printed,  the  same  used 
to  print  continental  money,  90. 

"Prevention  patents"  for  land,  is- 
sued to  Holland  Land  Co.,  106. 

Priestley,  Joseph,  establishes  Uni- 
tarian churches  in  Perm.,  199. 

Property,  Board  of,  of  Perm.,  under 
Gov.  Mifflin,  ruling  of,  concerning 
title  to  lands  of  Holland  Land  Co. , 
106,  109  n;  under  Gov.  McKean, 
ruling  of,  concerning  same,  106. 


384 


INDEX 


Prudence,  Brig,  in  which  H.  J.  H. 
made  his  voyage  to  America,  28, 
29. 

Quader,  Hylke.  See  Huidekoper, 
Hylke. 

Recreations  at  Pomona,  248  ff . 

"Reflections  offertes  aux  Capital- 
istes  de  1'  Europe,"  etc.  (pam- 
phlet), quoted,  97,  98. 

Retribution,  future,  H.  J.  H.'s 
essay  on,  238;  answered  by  "T. 
M.,  and  by  C.  P.  Cranch,  238  n. 

Revivals,  newspaper  controversy 
concerning,  218,  219;  H.  J.  H/s 
condemnation  of,  236. 

"  Right  and  Duty  of  Accumulation, 
The,"  article  by  H.  J.  H.  in  "West- 
ern Messenger,"  quoted,  193, 194. 

Ripley,  George,  280,  288. 

Riviere  aux  Bceufs,  La.  See  French 
Creek. 

Roads,  character  of,  hi  the  interior 
of  New  York,  46,  47;  and  of 
Pennsylvania,  57,  58,  60-78, 
passim. 

Rome,  N.  Y.  See  Fort  Stanwix. 

Rotterdam,  N.  Y.,  50. 

Sacket,  Augustus,  associated  with 
W.  S.  Hart  in  contract  with  Grif- 
fith and  Wallace,  character  of, 
128;  victimized  by,  or  in  collu- 
sion with  speculators,  128-130; 
tries  to  effect  H.  J.  H.'s  removal 
from  agency,  130;  violates  his 
contract  with  G.  and  W.,  130; 
which  is  cancelled,  130. 

Salt,  a  favorite  medium  of  exchange, 
86. 

Salt  springs  at  Onondaga,  74,  86. 

Salvation,  immediate,  H.  J.  H.'s 
views  concerning,  239. 

Sambre  et  Meuse,  Army  of,  head- 
quarters of,  at  Crefeld,  23,  24;  ex- 
cellent discipline  of,  42. 

Schehl,  Professor,  at  head  of  Insti- 
tute at  Crefeld,  19;  his  death,  ef- 
fect of,  25. 

Schenectady,  76. 

Schimmelpenninck,  Rutger  J.,  in- 
terested in  purchase  of  Morris 
lands  in  N.  Y.,  100;  and  of  land 
in  Penn.,  101. 

School,  village,  at  Hoogeveen,  at- 
tended by  H.  J.  H.,  14;  not  free, 


although  open  to  all,  14;  number 
of  scholars  comparatively  small, 
because  of  fee,  15. 

Schout,  or  Schulte  (bailiff),  office 
and  duties  of,  7  n,  11. 

Schuyler,  Fort  (Utica),  44,  45,  76. 

"Scnba's  Patent,"  40. 

Sects,  various,  use  court-room  for 
services  at  Meadville,  90. 

Seneca  Lake,  74.     . 

Settlement  of  lands  on  French 
Creek,  under  Penn.  Act  of  1792, 
102  ff,  125. 

Shattuck,  William  P.,  convert  to 
Unitarianism,  207. 

Shipbuilding  at  Pittsburg  in  1802, 
66. 

Shippen,  Chief  Justice  of  Penn., 
dissenting  opinion  of,  in  Com.  r. 
Coxe,  108  n;  did  not  sit  in  Atty.- 
Gen.  v.  Grantees,  109. 

Shippen,  Judge  Henry,  convert  to 
Unitarianism,  206;  his  religious 
discussions  with  Rev.  Mr.  James, 
223. 

Shippen,  Mrs.,  wife  of  Judge  Henry 
Shippen,  converts  Mr.  Smith  to 
Unitarianism,  222 ;  Rev.  Mr. 
James  and,  222,  223. 

Shippen,  Frances.  See  Huidekoper, 
Mrs.  Edgar. 

Shippen,  Margaret,  and  Unitarian- 
ism in  Meadville,  206;  her  "soi- 
re'es,"  251;  her  Sunday-school 
work,  256;  gives  land  for  Unita- 
rian church  at  Meadville,  268. 

Shippen,  Rev.  Rush  R.,  quoted,  324. 

Simons,  Menno.  See  Menno  Simons. 

"  Skippers,"  engaged  in  transporta- 
tion of  turf,  16. 

Slavery,  H.  J.  H.  on.  293  ff. 

Sleighing  parties  at  Pomona,  251. 

Smits,  Mr.,  clerk  to  A.  G.  Mappa, 
50  n;  returns  to  Holland  and  is 
succeeded  by  H.  J.  H.,  51 ;  returns 
to  U.  S.  (1801),  56;  death  of 
(1802),  56. 

Smyth,  General,  179;  H.  J.  H.'s 
estimate  of,  180. 

Social  life  at  Crefeld,  22. 

Soil,  quality  and  state  of  cultiva- 
tion of,  in  the  interior  of  Pennsyl- 
vania and  New  York,  60-78, 
passim. 

Sparks,  Jared,  installation  of,  in 
Baltimore.  200. 

Speculators,  in  league  with  Sacket 


INDEX 


385 


in  sale  of  lands,  128-130.  See 
also  "  Intruders." 

Stadnitzki,  Pieter,  director  of  Hol- 
land Land  Co.,  his  prospectus, 
quoted,  98,  99,  99  n;  interested 
in  purchase  of  lands  in  Penn. ,  101 . 

Stanwix,  Fort  (now  Rome),  49. 

Staphorst,  Nicholas  van,  interested 
in  purchase  of  Morris  lands  in  N. 
Y.,  100;  andof  lands inPenn.,  101. 

Staphorst,  Nicholas  and  Jacob  van, 
bankers  of  Amsterdam,  inter- 
ested in  Dutch  loan  to  U.  S.,  97. 

Stebbins,  Rufus  P.,  246,  322  n  ; 
President  of  Meadville  Theologi- 
cal School,  322. 

Steenbergen,  Albert,  marries 
Saapke  Huidekoper,  6  n,  12. 

Steenbergen,  Cornelius,  nephew  of 
H.  J.  H.,  12. 

Steenbergen,  Saapke  (Huidekoper), 
step-sister  of  H.  J.  H.,  6,  12;  her 
marriage,  6  n,  12;  her  children,  12. 

Sunday-schools,  in  Meadville  dis- 
trict, 304;  Sunday-school  chil- 
dren at  Pomona,  on  July  4,  304. 

Susquehanna  River,  navigation  of 
in  1802,  60. 

Stem,  Frederick,  163. 

Stein,  Mrs.  Frederick,  164. 

Stinstra,  Gertrude.  See  Huidekoper, 
Gertrude. 

Stinstra,  Miss,  elder  sister  of  Mrs. 
Jan  Huidekoper,  26;  early  at- 
tachment between  her  and  J.  H., 
26;  her  marriage,  widowhood, 
and  death,  26. 

Stockton,  Rev.  Joseph,  principal  of 
Meadville  Academy,  89;  minis- 
ter of  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church  at  Meadville,  89,  195. 

Stoystown,  Penn.,  64. 

Stripe  Neck,  friendly  Indian,  81. 

Talleyrand,  Prince  de,  his  meeting 
with  Jan  Huidekoper  in  the  U.  S., 
25  n;  Memoirs  of,  quoted,  25  n. 

Tarrytown,  78. 

Taxation,  system  of,  in  Penn.,  117. 

Taylor,  "  Father,"  279. 

"  Terror  as  a  Principle  of  Moral  Ac- 
tion," H.  J.  H.'s  essay  on,  236. 

Thorp,  Harriet  Nancy.  See  Huide- 
koper, Mrs.  Frederic. 

Thurston,  Rev.  James,  at  dedica- 
tion of  Unitarian  church  at  Mead- 
ville, 269,  270  n. 


Tilghman,  E.,  of  counsel  in  Huide- 
koper'a  Lessee  v.  Douglass,  110  n. 

Title  to  lands  on  French  Creek  pur- 
chased for  Holland  Land  Co., 
questions  concerning,  102. 

Transcendentalism,  257,  278;  un- 
intelligible to  H.  J.  H.,  286. 

Transportation,  difficulty  and  ex- 
pense of,  in  the  ulterior,  in  1812- 
1815,  182. 

Traveling,  difficulties  of,  45—47,  57, 
58. 

Trenton.   See  Oldenbarneveld. 

TribeshUl,  N.  Y.,  76. 

TunnehUl,  General  (War  of  1812), 
179. 

"  Ultraism,"  in  New  England,  279. 

Uncle  Tom's  Cabin,  297. 

"  Underground  railroad,"  297. 

Unitarian,  name  first  came  into 
general  use  in  England,  199;  first 
adopted  in  this  country  by  James 
Freeman,  199;  synonymous  then 
with  heretic  and  infidel,  199 ;  name 
accepted  at  Baltimore,  200;  belief, 
summarized  by  H.  J.  H.,  232. 

Unitarian  church,  first,  in  America, 
established  at  King's  Chapel,  by 
James  Freeman,  199;  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, 199;  at  Baltimore,  200;  at 
Pittsburg,  200;  at  Oldenbarne- 
veld, 200;  at  Meadville,  206. 
See  also  Independent  Congre- 
gational Church  at  Meadville. 

"Unitarian  Essayist,"  established 
by  Ephraim  Peabody,  220;  writ- 
ten mainly  by  E.  P.  and  H.  J.  H., 
220;  prospectus  of,  221;  con- 
ducted by  H.  J.  H.  alone  after  P.'s 
departure,  221;  effects  Mrs.  Ship- 
pen's  conversion  to  Unitarian- 
ism,  222;  H.  J.  H.'s  essays  on  re- 
ligious subjects  in,  228-239,  241; 
last  numbers  of,  262,  263. 

Unitarianism,  current  saying  con- 
cerning at  its  first  appearance, 
197;  difficulty  of  defining  it  with 
precision,  197;  in  U.  S.  came  as 
a  natural  sequence  of  independ- 
ence, 197;  fostered  by  Channing's 
Baltimore  sermon,  200;  individ- 
ualism a  distinguishing  charac- 
teristic of,  200 ;  in  Meadville, 
205,  206;  more  popular  with  the 
ladies  than  with  the  men,  208; 
"deadly  to  political  influence," 


386 


INDEX 


208;  denounced  by  Rev.  Mr. 
James,  224;  defended  by  H.  J.  H. 
in  "Essayist,"  226;  fully  expound- 
ed by  H.  J.  H.  in  "  Essayist,"  228- 
238;  reason  for  H.  J.  H.'s  attach- 
ment to,  228;  of  the  first  three 
centuries,  H.  J.  H.'s  essay  on, 
229 

Unity  of  God,  228,  229. 

Universalists,  attacked  by  Rev. 
Mr.  Bushnell,  210;  Ultra,  239. 

Utica.   See  Fort  Schuyler. 

Venango  River.  See  French  Creek. 
"  Venango  Spectator,"  quoted,  330. 
Vollenhoven,  Hendrick,  interested 

in  purchase  of  Morris  lands  in  N. 

Y.,  100;  and  of  lands  in  Penn., 

101. 
Vries,  village  of,  described,  6;    its 

ancient  church,  6,  7  n. 

Wallace,  Mr.,  makes  partition  of 
French  Creek  lands  with  Messrs. 
Wurts,  131;  compelled  to  assign, 
131. 

War  of  1812,  turns  public  attention 
toward  the  lake  country,  130, 190; 
brings  Meadville  section  into 
notice,  130;  H.  J.  H.'s  views  con- 
cerning, 178,  179-190. 

Warrant-holders,  104,  105;  their 
contention  concerning  right  to 
lands  on  French  Creek,  105,  125; 
contention  of,  sustained  by  U.  S. 
Supreme  Court,  110,  126. 

Warrants  for  land  under  Penn.  Act 
of  1792,  102  ff,  108. 

Warville,  Brissot  de,  45. 

Washington,  Bushrod,  Justice  of 
Supreme  Court  of  U.  S.,  114, 
114  n. 

Waterf  ord  (formerly  Fort  Le  Breuf) , 
68,  69,  79,  85. 

Wayne,  General  Anthony,  sends 
troops  to  relief  of  Meadville,  82; 
his  victories  arrest  trouble  with 
Indians,  82,  103. 

Wealth,  accumulation  of.  See  Accu- 
mulation of  Wealth. 

"  Western  Messenger,"  H.J.  H.'s  dis- 
cussion of  religious  matters  in, 
238,  239-241 ,  239  n ;  first  printed 
in  Cincinnati  and  edited  by  E. 
Peabody,  262  ;  transferred  to 
Louisville  and  edited  by  J.  F. 
Clarke,  262;  successor  of  the 


"Essayist,"  for  H.  J.  H.'s  pur- 
poses, 262;  literary  tone  of,  under 
J.  F.  C.'s  editorship,  264;  extracts 
from  Keats's  Journal,  and  certain 
of  Emerson's  poems,  published 
in,  264;  W.  H.  Channing  in,  281 ; 
H.  J.  H.'s  papers  on  Brownson 
in,  282,  283. 

Wheeler,  Rev.  Amos  Dean,  268, 
268  n. 

Whiskey,  made  at  Meadville  by 
David  Mead  and  others,  86,  87, 
87  n;  medium  of  exchange,  87. 

Whitestown,  N.  Y.,  75. 

Wieringen,  Jan  van,  founder  of  the 
Maarseveen  Huydecopers,  3  n. 

William  Lehman,  the,  canal  boat, 
192. 

Willink,  Wilhem,  interested  in  pur- 
chase of  Morris  lands  in  N.  Y., 
100,  100  n. 

Willink,  Wilhem  and  Jan,  bankers 
of  Amsterdam,  interested  in 
Dutch  loan  to  U.  S.,  97. 

Wilson,  James,  justice  of  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  the  U.  S.,  grantor 
to  representatives  of  Holland 
Land  Co.,  101. 

Wilson,  Miss,  letters  of  to  Mrs.  Hui- 
dekoper,  quoted,  135,  144. 

Wolthers  family,  particulars  con- 
cerning, 7  n. 

Wolthers  house,  in  Vries,  7  n. 

Wolthers,  Anna  Christina  (Ketel), 
maternal  grandmother  of  H.  J. 
H.,  6;  her  family,  11. 

Wolthers,  Gesiena  Frederica.  See 
Huidekoper,  Gesiena  Frederica. 

Wolthers,  Harm  Jan,  maternal 
grandfatherof  H.  J.  H.,  6;  Schout 
(bailiff)  of  Vries,  6,  7  n,  11;  his 
children,  12. 

Wright,  Frances  (Madame  Darus- 
mont),  284  n. 

Wurts,  Messrs.,  grantees  of  Judge 
Griffith  of  French  Creek  lands, 
make  partition  with  Wallace, 
131;  compelled  to  assign  to 
creditors,  131. 

Yeates,  Judge,  delivers  opinion  in 
Com.  v.  Coxe,  and  in  Atfy-Gen.  v. 
Grantees,  109;  his  opinion  in 
former  case,  quoted,  112. 

Zaan,  Mr.,  brother-in-law  of  Mr. 
Mappa,  at  Oldenbarneveld,  50. 


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